There are leaks on the ocean floor and they're believed to be due to methane gas escaping from the continental margin.
Called seeps, the leaks have been documented on at least 570 locations, from the Georges Bank southeast of Nantucket to close to Cape Hatteras, N.C, in a study published in the Nature Geoscience journal. Titled "Widespread methane leakage from the sea floor on the northern Atlantic margin," the study was carried out by Adam Skarke, Carolyn Ruppel and colleagues from Brown University's Department of Geological Sciences, the U.S. Geological Survey and Earth Resources Technology, Inc. Skarke was from the Mississippi State University's Department of Geosciences while Ruppel was from U.S. Geological Survey as well.
The study was focused on the continental margin or that portion of the ocean floor where the coast meets the deep ocean and revealed that the seeps have been around for at least 1,000 years. Seeps were recorded at varying depths and have not been linked to deposits of gas and oil. The contents of bubbles emanating from the leaks have not been tested but they are believed to be methane.
At the depth the seeps were happening, it appears that methane gas is not released into the atmosphere. That's some relief to scientists studying the climate but it points to the possibility of another threat. Because methane is not released into the atmosphere, this means that the gas is dissolving in the ocean. All the gas released from the seeps represent a tiny amount compared to all other sources of methane leaks but that amount is enough to affect the acidity levels in the water, at least for the local region.
Methane is a short-lived greenhouse gas but a greenhouse gas nonetheless so climate scientists may be interested in the implications of the study.
Further research needs to be done but it would seem that seeps at 3,300 feet are indicative of methane reservoirs deep within the ocean floor. This sounds like an opportunity that oil companies can explore but researchers have said that most of the seeps recorded by the study occurred at depths between 800 and 2,000 feet. This means the gas leaking is likely being produced by microbes that have been trapped under sediments within hydrates. Hydrates respond to changes in water temperature so it is possible that warming along the ocean floor triggered the release of methane from within hydrates.
According to the researchers, there could be around 30,000 more of the seeps found all over the world.
