Clathrate gun hypothesis

Short description: Meteorological hypothesis

Methane clathrate is released as gas into the surrounding water column or soils when ambient temperature increases

The clathrate gun hypothesis is a proposed explanation for the periods of rapid warming during the Quaternary. The hypothesis is that changes in fluxes in upper intermediate waters in the ocean caused temperature fluctuations that alternately accumulated and occasionally released methane clathrate on upper continental slopes. This would have had an immediate impact on the global temperature, as methane is a much more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Despite its atmospheric lifetime of around 12 years, methane's global warming potential is 72 times greater than that of carbon dioxide over 20 years, and 25 times over 100 years (33 when accounting for aerosol interactions).[1] It is further proposed that these warming events caused the Bond Cycles and individual interstadial events, such as the Dansgaard–Oeschger interstadials.[2]

The hypothesis was supported for the Bølling–Allerød warming and Preboreal periods, but not for Dansgaard–Oeschger interstadials,[3] although there are still debates on the topic.[4] While it may be important on the millennial timescales,[5][6] it is no longer considered relevant for the near future climate change: the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report states "It is very unlikely that gas clathrates (mostly methane) in deeper terrestrial permafrost and subsea clathrates will lead to a detectable departure from the emissions trajectory during this century".[7]

## Contents

* 1 Mechanism
* 2 Possible past releases
* 2.1 Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum
* 2.2 Permian–Triassic extinction event
* 3 Climate change feedback
* 3.1 Modern deposits
* 3.2 Observed emissions
* 3.2.1 East Siberian Arctic Shelf
* 3.2.2 Beaufort Sea continental slope
* 3.2.3 Svalbard
* 3.3 Current outlook
* 4 In fiction
* 5 See also
* 6 References
* 7 Further reading
* 8 External links

## Mechanism

Specific structure of a gas hydrate piece, from the subduction zone off Oregon

Gas hydrate-bearing sediment, from the subduction zone off Oregon

Methane clathrate, also known commonly as methane hydrate, is a form of water ice that contains a large amount of methane within its crystal structure. Potentially large deposits of methane clathrate have been found under sediments on the ocean floors of the Earth, although the estimates of total resource size given by various experts differ by many orders of magnitude, leaving doubt as to the size of methane clathrate deposits (particularly in the viability of extracting them as a fuel resource). Indeed, cores of greater than 10 centimeters' contiguous depth had only been found in three sites as of 2000, and some resource reserve size estimates for specific deposits/locations have been based primarily on seismology.[8][9] The sudden release of large amounts of natural gas from methane clathrate deposits in runaway climate change could be a cause of past, future, and present climate changes.

In the Arctic ocean, clathrates can exist in shallower water stabilized by lower temperatures rather than higher pressures; these may potentially be marginally stable much closer to the surface of the sea-bed, stabilized by a frozen 'lid' of permafrost preventing methane escape. The so-called self-preservation phenomenon has been studied by Russian geologists starting in the late 1980s.[10] This metastable clathrate state can be a basis for release events of methane excursions, such as during the interval of the Last Glacial Maximum.[11] A study from 2010 concluded with the possibility for a trigger of abrupt climate warming based on metastable methane clathrates in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) region.[12]

## Possible past releases

Gas-hydrate deposits by sector[13]

Studies published in 2000 considered this hypothetical effect to be responsible for warming events in and at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum.[14] Although periods of increased atmospheric methane match periods of continental-slope failure,[3][4] later work found that the distinct deuterium/hydrogen (D/H) isotope ratio indicated that wetland methane emissions was the main contributor to atmospheric methane concentrations.[15][16] While there were major dissociation events during the last deglaciation, with Bølling–Allerød warming triggering the disappearance of the entire methane hydrate deposit in the Barents Sea within 5000 years, those events failed to counteract the onset of a major Younger Dryas cooling period, suggesting that most of the methane stayed within the seawater after being liberated from the seafloor deposits, with very little entering the atmosphere.[17][18]

In 2008, it was suggested that equatorial permafrost methane clathrate may have had a role in the sudden warm-up of "Snowball Earth", 630 million years ago.[19]

Other events potentially linked to methane hydrate excursions are the Permian–Triassic extinction event and the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum.

### Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum

This section is an excerpt from Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum[ edit ]

This section is an excerpt from Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum § Methane clathrate release[ edit ]

### Permian–Triassic extinction event

This section is an excerpt from Permian–Triassic extinction event[ edit ]

This section is an excerpt from Permian–Triassic extinction event#Methane clathrate gasification[ edit ]

## Climate change feedback

Main page: Earth:Climate change in the Arctic

### Modern deposits

Most deposits of methane clathrate are in sediments too deep to respond rapidly,[20] and 2007 modelling by Archer suggests that the methane forcing derived from them should remain a minor component of the overall greenhouse effect.[21] Clathrate deposits destabilize from the deepest part of their stability zone, which is typically hundreds of metres below the seabed. A sustained increase in sea temperature will warm its way through the sediment eventually, and cause the shallowest, most marginal clathrate to start to break down; but it will typically take on the order of a thousand years or more for the temperature change to get that far into the seabed.[21] Further, subsequent research on midlatitude deposits in the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean found that any methane released from the seafloor, no matter the source, fails to reach the atmosphere once the depth exceeds 430 m (1,411 ft), while geological characteristics of the area make it impossible for hydrates to exist at depths shallower than 550 m (1,804 ft).[22][23]

Potential Methane release in the Eastern Siberian Arctic Shelf

However, some methane clathrates deposits in the Arctic are much shallower than the rest, which could make them far more vulnerable to warming. A trapped gas deposit on the continental slope off Canada in the Beaufort Sea, located in an area of small conical hills on the ocean floor is just 290 m (951 ft) below sea level and considered the shallowest known deposit of methane hydrate.[24] However, the East Siberian Arctic Shelf averages 45 meters in depth, and it is assumed that below the seafloor, sealed by sub-sea permafrost layers, hydrates deposits are located.[25][26] This would mean that when the warming potentially talik or pingo-like features within the shelf, they would also serve as gas migration pathways for the formerly frozen methane, and a lot of attention has been paid to that possibility.[27][28][29] Shakhova et al. (2008) estimate that not less than 1,400 gigatonnes of carbon is presently locked up as methane and methane hydrates under the Arctic submarine permafrost, and 5–10% of that area is subject to puncturing by open talik. Their paper initially included the line that the "release of up to 50 gigatonnes of predicted amount of hydrate storage [is] highly possible for abrupt release at any time". A release on this scale would increase the methane content of the planet's atmosphere by a factor of twelve,[30][31] equivalent in greenhouse effect to a doubling in the 2008 level of CO

This is what led to the original Clathrate gun hypothesis, and in 2008 the United States Department of Energy National Laboratory system[32] and the United States Geological Survey's Climate Change Science Program both identified potential clathrate destabilization in the Arctic as one of four most serious scenarios for abrupt climate change, which have been singled out for priority research. The USCCSP released a report in late December 2008 estimating the gravity of this risk.[33] A 2012 study of the effects for the original hypothesis, based on a coupled climate–carbon cycle model (GCM) assessed a 1000-fold (from <1 to 1000 ppmv) methane increase—within a single pulse, from methane hydrates (based on carbon amount estimates for the PETM, with ~2000 GtC), and concluded it would increase atmospheric temperatures by more than 6 °C within 80 years. Further, carbon stored in the land biosphere would decrease by less than 25%, suggesting a critical situation for ecosystems and farming, especially in the tropics.[34] Another 2012 assessment of the literature identifies methane hydrates on the Shelf of East Arctic Seas as a potential trigger.[35]

A risk of seismic activity being potentially responsible for mass methane releases has been considered as well. In 2012, seismic observations destabilizing methane hydrate along the continental slope of the eastern United States, following the intrusion of warmer ocean currents, suggests that underwater landslides could release methane. The estimated amount of methane hydrate in this slope is 2.5 gigatonnes (about 0.2% of the amount required to cause the PETM), and it is unclear if the methane could reach the atmosphere. However, the authors of the study caution: "It is unlikely that the western North Atlantic margin is the only area experiencing changing ocean currents; our estimate of 2.5 gigatonnes of destabilizing methane hydrate may therefore represent only a fraction of the methane hydrate currently destabilizing globally."[36] Bill McGuire notes, "There may be a threat of submarine landslides around the margins of Greenland, which are less well explored. Greenland is already uplifting, reducing the pressure on the crust beneath and also on submarine methane hydrates in the sediment around its margins, and increased seismic activity may be apparent within decades as active faults beneath the ice sheet are unloaded. This could provide the potential for the earthquake or methane hydrate destabilisation of submarine sediment, leading to the formation of submarine slides and, perhaps, tsunamis in the North Atlantic."[37]

### Observed emissions

#### East Siberian Arctic Shelf

Methane releases in Laptev Sea are typically consumed within the sediment by methanotrophs. Areas with high sedimentation (top) subject their microbial communities to continual disturbance, and so they are the most likely to see active fluxes, whether with (right) or without active upward flow (left). Even so, the annual release may be limited to 1000 tonnes or less.[38]

Research carried out in 2008 in the Siberian Arctic showed methane releases on the annual scale of millions of tonnes, which was a substantial increase on the previous estimate of 0.5 millions of tonnes per year.[39] apparently through perforations in the seabed permafrost,[29] with concentrations in some regions reaching up to 100 times normal levels.[40][41] The excess methane has been detected in localized hotspots in the outfall of the Lena River and the border between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea. At the time, some of the melting was thought to be the result of geological heating, but more thawing was believed to be due to the greatly increased volumes of meltwater being discharged from the Siberian rivers flowing north.[42]

By 2013, the same team of researchers used multiple sonar observations to quantify the density of bubbles emanating from subsea permafrost into the ocean (a process called ebullition), and found that 100–630 mg methane per square meter is emitted daily along the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS), into the water column. They also found that during storms, when wind accelerates air-sea gas exchange, methane levels in the water column drop dramatically. Observations suggest that methane release from seabed permafrost will progress slowly, rather than abruptly. However, Arctic cyclones, fueled by global warming, and further accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere could contribute to more rapid methane release from this source. Altogether, their updated estimate had now amounted to 17 millions of tonnes per year.[43]

However, these findings were soon questioned, as this rate of annual release would mean that the ESAS alone would account for between 28% and 75% of the observed Arctic methane emissions, which contradicts many other studies. In January 2020, it was found that the rate at which methane enters the atmosphere after it had been released from the shelf deposits into the water column had been greatly overestimated, and observations of atmospheric methane fluxes taken from multiple ship cruises in the Arctic instead indicate that only around 3.02 million tonnes of methane are emitted annually from the ESAS.[44] A modelling study published in 2020 suggested that under the present-day conditions, annual methane release from the ESAS may be as low as 1000 tonnes, with 2.6 – 4.5 million tonnes representing the peak potential of turbulent emissions from the shelf.[38]

#### Beaufort Sea continental slope

Profile illustrating the continental shelf, slope and rise

A radiocarbon dating study in 2018 found that after the 30-meter isobath, only around 10% of the methane in surface waters can be attributed to ancient permafrost or methane hydrates. The authors suggested that even a significantly accelerated methane release would still largely fail to reach the atmosphere.[45]

#### Svalbard

Hong et al. 2017 studied methane seepage in the shallow arctic seas at the Barents Sea close to Svalbard. Temperature at the seabed has fluctuated seasonally over the last century, between −1.8 °C (28.8 °F) and 4.8 °C (40.6 °F), it has only affected release of methane to a depth of about 1.6 meters at the sediment-water interface. Hydrates can be stable through the top 60 meters of the sediments and the current observed releases originate from deeper below the sea floor. They conclude that the increased methane flux started hundreds to thousands of years ago, noted about it, "..episodic ventilation of deep reservoirs rather than warming-induced gas hydrate dissociation."[46] Summarizing his research, Hong stated:

> The results of our study indicate that the immense seeping found in this area is a result of natural state of the system. Understanding how methane interacts with other important geological, chemical and biological processes in the Earth system is essential and should be the emphasis of our scientific community.[47]

Methane releases specifically attributed to hydrate dissociation in the Svalbard appear to be much lower than the leaks from other methane sources.[48]

Research by Klaus Wallmann et al. 2018 concluded that hydrate dissociation at Svalbard 8,000 years ago was due to isostatic rebound (continental uplift following deglaciation). As a result, the water depth got shallower with less hydrostatic pressure, without further warming. The study, also found that today's deposits at the site become unstable at a depth of ~ 400 meters, due to seasonal bottom water warming, and it remains unclear if this is due to natural variability or anthropogenic warming.[48] Moreover, another paper published in 2017 found that only 0.07% of the methane released from the gas hydrate dissociation at Svalbard appears to reach the atmosphere, and usually only when the wind speeds were low.[49] In 2020, a subsequent study confirmed that only a small fraction of methane from the Svalbard seeps reaches the atmosphere, and that the wind speed holds a greater influence on the rate of release than dissolved methane concentration on site.[50]

Finally, a paper published in 2017 indicated that the methane emissions from at least one seep field at Svalbard were more than compensated for by the enhanced carbon dioxide uptake due to the greatly increased phytoplankton activity in this nutrient-rich water. The daily amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by the phytoplankton was 1,900 greater than the amount of methane emitted, and the negative (i.e. indirectly cooling) radiative forcing from the CO2 uptake was up to 251 times greater than the warming from the methane release.[51]

### Current outlook

In 2014 based on their research on the northern United States Atlantic marine continental margins from Cape Hatteras to Georges Bank, a group of scientists from the US Geological Survey, the Department of Geosciences, Mississippi State University, Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University and Earth Resources Technology, found widespread leakage of methane from the seafloor, but they did not assign specific dates, beyond suggesting that some of the seeps were more than 1000 years old.[52][53] In March 2017, a meta-analysis by the USGS Gas Hydrates Project concluded:[54][13]

> Our review is the culmination of nearly a decade of original research by the USGS, my coauthor Professor John Kessler at the University of Rochester, and many other groups in the community," said USGS geophysicist Carolyn Ruppel, who is the paper's lead author and oversees the USGS Gas Hydrates Project. "After so many years spent determining where gas hydrates are breaking down and measuring methane flux at the sea-air interface, we suggest that conclusive evidence for release of hydrate-related methane to the atmosphere is lacking.

In June 2017, scientists from the Center for Arctic Gas Hydrate (CAGE), Environment and Climate at the University of Tromsø, published a study describing over a hundred ocean sediment craters, some 300 meters wide and up to 30 meters deep, formed due to explosive eruptions, attributed to destabilizing methane hydrates, following ice-sheet retreat during the last glacial period, around 15,000 years ago, a few centuries after the Bølling–Allerød warming. These areas around the Barents Sea, still seep methane today, and still existing bulges with methane reservoirs could eventually have the same fate.[55] Later that same year, the Arctic Council published SWIPA 2017 report, where it cautioned "Arctic sources and sinks of greenhouse gases are still hampered by data and knowledge gaps."[56]

In 2018, a perspective piece devoted to tipping points in the climate system suggested that the climate change contribution from methane hydrates would be "negligible" by the end of the century, but could amount to 0.4–0.5 °C (0.72–0.90 °F) on the millennial timescales.[6] In 2021, the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report no longer included methane hydrates in the list of potential tipping points, and says that "it is very unlikely that CH4 emissions from clathrates will substantially warm the climate system over the next few centuries."[7] The report had also linked terrestrial hydrate deposites to gas emission craters discovered in the Yamal Peninsula in Siberia, Russia beginning in July 2014,[57] but noted that since terrestrial gas hydrates predominantly form at a depth below 200 metres, a substantial response within the next few centuries can be ruled out.[7] Likewise, a 2022 assessment of tipping points described methane hydrates as a "threshold-free feedback" rather than a tipping point.[58][59]

## In fiction

* The science fiction novel Mother of Storms by John Barnes offers a fictional example of catastrophic climate change caused by methane clathrate release.
* In The Life Lottery by Ian Irvine unprecedented seismic activity triggers a release of methane hydrate, reversing global cooling.
* The hypothesis is the basis of an experiment in the PlayStation 2 game Death By Degrees.
* In Transcendent by Stephen Baxter, averting such a crisis is a major plotline.
* The novel The Black Silent by author David Dun features this idea as a key scientific point.
* In the anime Ergo Proxy, a string of explosions in the methane hydrate reserves wipes out 85% of species on Earth.
* The novel The Far Shore of Time by Frederik Pohl features an alien race attempting to destroy humanity by bombing the methane clathrate reserves, thus releasing the gas into the atmosphere.
* The novel The Swarm by Frank Schätzing features what first appear to be freak events related to the world's oceans.
* In Charles Stross' Laundry Files universe, an intentionally triggered clathrate gun scenario is viewed as a possible retaliatory strategy that could be utilized by Blue Hades in response to terminal violation of the Benthic Treaty.

## See also

* Atlantic meridional overturning circulation
* Azolla event
* Clathrate compound
* Effects of climate change
* Extinction event
* Limnic eruption
* Methane chimney
* Ocean acidification
* Storegga Slide

## References

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27. ↑ "Climate-Hydrate Interactions". USGS. January 14, 2013. https://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/project-pages/hydrates/climate.html.
28. ↑ Shakhova, Natalia; Semiletov, Igor (November 30, 2010). "Methane release from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf and the Potential for Abrupt Climate Change". http://symposium2010.serdp-estcp.org/content/download/8914/107496/version/3/file/1A_Shakhova_Final.pdf.
29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 "Methane bubbling through seafloor creates undersea hills" (Press release). Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. 5 February 2007. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008.
30. ↑ Shakhova, N.; Semiletov, I.; Salyuk, A.; Kosmach, D. (2008). "Anomalies of methane in the atmosphere over the East Siberian shelf: Is there any sign of methane leakage from shallow shelf hydrates?". Geophysical Research Abstracts 10: 01526. http://www.cosis.net/abstracts/EGU2008/01526/EGU2008-A-01526.pdf. Retrieved 2008-09-25.
31. ↑ Mrasek, Volker (17 April 2008). "A Storehouse of Greenhouse Gases Is Opening in Siberia". Spiegel International Online. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,547976,00.html. "The Russian scientists have estimated what might happen when this Siberian permafrost-seal thaws completely and all the stored gas escapes. They believe the methane content of the planet's atmosphere would increase twelvefold."
32. ↑ Preuss, Paul (17 September 2008). "IMPACTS: On the Threshold of Abrupt Climate Changes". Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2008/09/17/impacts-on-the-threshold-of-abrupt-climate-changes.
33. ↑ CCSP (2008). Abrupt Climate Change. A report by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research. Clark. Reston VA: U.S. Geological Survey. http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap3-4/final-report/default.htm.
34. ↑ Atsushi Obata; Kiyotaka Shibata (June 20, 2012). "Damage of Land Biosphere due to Intense Warming by 1000-Fold Rapid Increase in Atmospheric Methane: Estimation with a Climate–Carbon Cycle Model". J. Climate 25 (24): 8524–8541. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00533.1. Bibcode: 2012JCli...25.8524O.
35. ↑ Sergienko, V. I. (September 2012). "The Degradation of Submarine Permafrost and the Destruction of Hydrates on the Shelf of East Arctic Seas as a Potential Cause of the 'Methane Catastrophe': Some Results of Integrated Studies in 2011" (PDF). Doklady Earth Sciences 446 (1): 1132–1137. doi:10.1134/S1028334X12080144. ISSN 1028-334X. Bibcode: 2012DokES.446.1132S. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257850226.
36. ↑ Phrampus, B. J.; Hornbach, M. J. (December 24, 2012). "Recent changes to the Gulf Stream causing widespread gas hydrate destabilization". Nature 490 (7421): 527–530. doi:10.1038/nature.2012.11652. PMID 23099408.
37. ↑ "Bill McGuire: Modelling suggests with ice cap melt, an increase in volcanic activity". ClimateState.com. 2014. http://climatestate.com/2014/10/16/methane-hydrate-destabilisation-is-clearly-a-real-worry-particularly-in-the-context-of-warming-ocean-waters-in-the-east-siberian-continental-shelf.
38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Puglini, Matteo; Brovkin, Victor; Regnier, Pierre; Arndt, Sandra (26 June 2020). "Assessing the potential for non-turbulent methane escape from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf". Biogeosciences 17 (12): 3247–3275. doi:10.5194/bg-17-3247-2020. Bibcode: 2020BGeo...17.3247P. https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/17/3247/2020/.
39. ↑ Shakhova, N.; Semiletov, I.; Salyuk, A.; Kosmach, D.; Bel'cheva, N. (2007). "Methane release on the Arctic East Siberian shelf". Geophysical Research Abstracts 9: 01071. http://www.cosis.net/abstracts/EGU2007/01071/EGU2007-J-01071.pdf?PHPSESSID=e.
40. ↑ Connor, Steve (September 23, 2008). "Exclusive: The methane time bomb". The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/exclusive-the-methane-time-bomb-938932.html.
41. ↑ Connor, Steve (September 25, 2008). "Hundreds of methane 'plumes' discovered". The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/hundreds-of-methane-plumes-discovered-941456.html.
42. ↑ Translation of a blog entry by Örjan Gustafsson, expedition research leader, 2 September 2008
43. ↑ Shakhova, Natalia; Semiletov, Igor; Leifer, Ira; Sergienko, Valentin; Salyuk, Anatoly; Kosmach, Denis; Chernykh, Denis; Stubbs, Chris et al. (24 November 2013). "Ebullition and storm-induced methane release from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf". Nature 7 (1): 64–70. doi:10.1038/ngeo2007. Bibcode: 2014NatGe...7...64S. https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo2007.
44. ↑ Thornton, Brett F.; Prytherch, John; Andersson, Kristian; Brooks, Ian M.; Salisbury, Dominic; Tjernström, Michael; Crill, Patrick M. (29 January 2020). "Shipborne eddy covariance observations of methane fluxes constrain Arctic sea emissions". Science Advances 6 (5): eaay7934. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aay7934. PMID 32064354. Bibcode: 2020SciA....6.7934T.
45. ↑ Sparrow, Katy J.; Kessler, John D.; Southon, John R.; Garcia-Tigreros, Fenix; Schreiner, Kathryn M.; Ruppel, Carolyn D.; Miller, John B.; Lehman, Scott J. et al. (17 January 2018). "Limited contribution of ancient methane to surface waters of the U.S. Beaufort Sea shelf". Science Advances 4 (1): eaao4842. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aao4842. PMID 29349299. PMC 5771695. Bibcode: 2018SciA....4.4842S. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aay7934.
46. ↑ Hong, Wei-Li; Torres, Marta E.; Carroll, JoLynn; Crémière, Antoine; Panieri, Giuliana; Yao, Haoyi; Serov, Pavel (2017). "Seepage from an arctic shallow marine gas hydrate reservoir is insensitive to momentary ocean warming" (in en). Nature Communications 8 (1): 15745. doi:10.1038/ncomms15745. ISSN 2041-1723. PMID 28589962. Bibcode: 2017NatCo...815745H.
47. ↑ CAGE (August 23, 2017). "Study finds hydrate gun hypothesis unlikely". Phys.org. https://phys.org/news/2017-08-hydrate-gun-hypothesis.html.
48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 Wallmann (2018). "Gas hydrate dissociation off Svalbard induced by isostatic rebound rather than global warming". Nature Communications 9 (1): 83. doi:10.1038/s41467-017-02550-9. PMID 29311564. Bibcode: 2018NatCo...9...83W.
49. ↑ Mau, S.; Römer, M.; Torres, M. E.; Bussmann, I.; Pape, T.; Damm, E.; Geprägs, P.; Wintersteller, P. et al. (23 February 2017). "Widespread methane seepage along the continental margin off Svalbard - from Bjørnøya to Kongsfjorden". Scientific Reports 7: 42997. doi:10.1038/srep42997. PMID 28230189. Bibcode: 2017NatSR...742997M.
50. ↑ Silyakova, Anna; Jansson, Pär; Serov, Pavel; Ferré, Benedicte; Pavlov, Alexey K.; Hattermann, Tore; Graves, Carolyn A.; Platt, Stephen M. et al. (1 February 2020). "Physical controls of dynamics of methane venting from a shallow seep area west of Svalbard". Continental Shelf Research 194: 104030. doi:10.1016/j.csr.2019.104030. Bibcode: 2020CSR...19404030S. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278434319304133.
51. ↑ Pohlman, John W.; Greinert, Jens; Ruppel, Carolyn; Silyakova, Anna; Vielstädte, Lisa; Casso, Michael; Mienert, Jürgen; Bünz, Stefan (1 February 2020). "Enhanced CO2 uptake at a shallow Arctic Ocean seep field overwhelms the positive warming potential of emitted methane". Biological Sciences 114 (21): 5355–5360. doi:10.1073/pnas.1618926114. PMID 28484018.
52. ↑ Skarke, A.; Ruppel, C.; Kodis, M.; Brothers, D.; Lobecker, E. (21 July 2014). "Widespread methane leakage from the sea floor on the northern US Atlantic margin". Nature Geoscience 7 (9): 657–661. doi:10.1038/ngeo2232. Bibcode: 2014NatGe...7..657S. https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo2232.
53. ↑ McGrath, Matt (24 August 2014). "Widespread methane leakage from ocean floor off US coast". BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28898223.
54. ↑ Gas Hydrate Breakdown Unlikely to Cause Massive Greenhouse Gas Release, USGS Gas Hydrates Project, 2017
55. ↑ "Like 'champagne bottles being opened': Scientists document an ancient Arctic methane explosion". The Washington Post. June 1, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/06/01/like-champagne-bottles-being-opened-scientists-document-an-ancient-arctic-methane-explosion.
56. ↑ "SWIPA 2017 - Press Material". Arctic Council. 2017. https://www.amap.no/documents/doc/swipa-2017-press-material/1544.
57. ↑ Moskvitch, Katia (2014). "Mysterious Siberian crater attributed to methane". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2014.15649. http://www.nature.com/news/mysterious-siberian-crater-attributed-to-methane-1.15649. Retrieved 2014-08-04.
58. ↑ Armstrong McKay, David; Abrams, Jesse; Winkelmann, Ricarda; Sakschewski, Boris; Loriani, Sina; Fetzer, Ingo; Cornell, Sarah; Rockström, Johan et al. (9 September 2022). "Exceeding 1.5°C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points" (in en). Science 377 (6611): eabn7950. doi:10.1126/science.abn7950. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 36074831. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn7950.
59. ↑ Armstrong McKay, David (9 September 2022). "Exceeding 1.5°C global warming could trigger multiple climate tipping points – paper explainer" (in en). https://climatetippingpoints.info/2022/09/09/climate-tipping-points-reassessment-explainer/.

## Further reading

* Benton, Michael J.; Twitchett, Richard J. (July 2003). "How to kill (almost) all life: the end-Permian extinction event". Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18 (7): 358–365. doi:10.1016/S0169-5347(03)00093-4. http://palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk/Benton/reprints/2003TREEPTr.pdf. Retrieved 2006-11-26. , cited by 21 other articles.
* Svensen, Henrik; Planke, Sverre; Malthe-Sørenssen, Anders; Jamtveit, Bjørn; Myklebust, Reidun Rasmussen; Eidem, Torfinn; Rey, Sebastian S. (2004). "Release of methane from a volcanic basin as a mechanism for initial Eocene global warming". Nature 429 (6991): 542–545. doi:10.1038/nature02566. PMID 15175747. Bibcode: 2004Natur.429..542S.
* Thomas, Deborah J.; Zachos, James C.; Thomas, Ellen; Bohaty, Steven (2002). "Warming the fuel for the fire: Evidence for the thermal dissociation of methane hydrate during the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum". Geology 30 (12): 1067–70. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(2002)030<1067:WTFFTF>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0091-7613. Bibcode: 2002Geo....30.1067T. http://www.es.ucsc.edu/~jzachos/pubs/TZBTB_02.pdf.
* Archer, D.; Buffett, B. (2004). "Temperature sensitivity and time dependence of the global ocean clathrate reservoir". Bibcode: 2004AGUFMGC51D1069A.

## External links

* Kennett, James P. (20 May 2005). "Abstract: Methane Hydrates in Quaternary Climate Change: The Clathrate Gun Hypothesis". Paul A. Witherspoon Distinguished Seminar Series. Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. http://esd.lbl.gov/seminar_series/abstracts/kennett.html.
* Hudson, Geoff (24 May 2009). "The trigger for the clathrate gun". Ockham's Razor. Radio National, Australian Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ockhamsrazor/stories/2009/2577170.htm.
* Chakoumakos, Bryan C. (2004). "Preface to the Clathrate Hydrates special issue". American Mineralogist 89: 1153–4. http://www.minsocam.org/MSA/AmMin/TOC/Abstracts/2004_Abstracts/AS04_Abstracts/Chakoumakos_p1153_04.pdf.
* Adam, David (14 January 2010). "Arctic permafrost leaking methane at record levels, figures show". Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/jan/14/arctic-permafrost-methane.
* Harris, Richard (26 January 2010). "Methane Causes Vicious Cycle In Global Warming". NPR.org (NPR). https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122638800.
* Methane: A Scientific Journey from Obscurity to Climate Super-Stardom Good Sept. 2004 background report from NASA GISS
* Wakening the Kraken

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