Abstract
Although the Arctic methane reservoir is large, the emission of methane from the Arctic Ocean into the atmosphere remains poorly constrained. Continuous ship-borne measurements of atmospheric methane near the surface ocean were carried out during two cruises to investigate methane emission from the Arctic Ocean up to the latitude of 87ºN. Three-day air mass back trajectories along the cruise tracks indicated that the surface Arctic Ocean could be a potentially important source of methane to the atmosphere. Rapid bursts in methane concentration occurred mainly along the ocean frontal area, suggesting that frontal upwelling in the upper layer of the Arctic Ocean might contribute to methane emissions into the atmosphere.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Liu Yanguang, Ge Renfeng and Lin Lina for their help in data acquisition. This work was supported by the Project of Comprehensive Evaluation of Polar Areas on Global and Regional Climate Changes (Grant No. CHINARE2012-04-04), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41206027), the National Natural Science Foundation of China-Shandong Joint Fund for Marine Science Research Centers (Grant No. U14064) and the Polar Strategic Research Foundation of China (Grant No. 20120103).
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Zhang, M., Qiao, F. & Song, Z. Observation of atmospheric methane in the Arctic Ocean up to 87° north. Sci. China Earth Sci. 60, 173–179 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-015-0241-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-015-0241-3