ALBERT

Description: Large quantities of methane are stored in hydrates and permafrost within shallow marine sediments in the Arctic Ocean. These reservoirs are highly sensitive to climate warming, but the fate of methane released from sediments is uncertain. Here, we review the principal physical and biogeochemical processes that regulate methane fluxes across the seabed, the fate of this methane in the water column, and potential for its release to the atmosphere. We find that, at present, fluxes of dissolved methane are significantly moderated by anaerobic and aerobic oxidation of methane. If methane fluxes increase then a greater proportion of methane will be transported by advection or in the gas phase, which reduces the efficiency of the methanotrophic sink. Higher freshwater discharge to Arctic shelf seas may increase stratification and inhibit transfer of methane gas to surface waters, although there is some evidence that increased stratification may lead to warming of sub-pycnocline waters, increasing the potential for hydrate dissociation. Loss of sea-ice is likely to increase wind speeds and seaair exchange of methane will consequently increase. Studies of the distribution and cycling of methane beneath and within sea ice are limited, but it seems likely that the sea-air methane flux is higher during melting in seasonally ice-covered regions. Our review reveals that increased observations around especially the anaerobic and aerobic oxidation of methane, bubble transport, and the effects of ice cover, are required to fully understand the linkages and feedback pathways between climate warming and release of methane from marine sediments.

Description: Modular Observation Solutions of Earth Systems (MOSES) is a novel observation system that is specifically designed to unravel the impact of distinct, dynamic events on the long-term development of environmental systems. Hydrometeorological extremes such as the recent European droughts or the floods of 2013 caused severe and lasting environmental damage. Modeling studies suggest that abrupt permafrost thaw events accelerate Arctic greenhouse gas emissions. Short-lived ocean eddies seem to comprise a significant share of the marine carbon uptake or release. Although there is increasing evidence that such dynamic events bear the potential for major environmental impacts, our knowledge on the processes they trigger is still very limited. MOSES aims at capturing such events, from their formation to their end, with high spatial and temporal resolution. As such, the observation system extends and complements existing national and international observation networks, which are mostly designed for long-term monitoring. Several German Helmholtz Association centers have developed this research facility as a mobile and modular “system of systems” to record energy, water, greenhouse gas, and nutrient cycles on the land surface, in coastal regions, in the ocean, in polar regions, and in the atmosphere—but especially the interactions between the Earth compartments. During the implementation period (2017–21), the measuring systems were put into operation and test campaigns were performed to establish event-driven campaign routines. With MOSES’s regular operation starting in 2022, the observation system will then be ready for cross-compartment and cross-discipline research on the environmental impacts of dynamic events.

Description: Rivers are suspected to be a main suppliers of greenhouse gases (methane and carbon dioxide) to coastal seas, while the role of the interjacent tidal flats is still ambiguous. In this study we investigated the role of the Elbe and Weser estuaries as source of methane to the North Sea. We used high spatially resolved methane measurements from an underway degassing system and subsequent analysis with cavity ring down spectroscopy. Thus, a high-resolution representation of the methane distribution in surface waters as well as of hydrographic parameters was obtained for several cruises with two ships in 2019. For most areas, riverine methane was simply diluted by seawater, overlain by a strong tidal signal. However, on several occasions unexpectedly high methane concentrations were observed. Further detailed analysis will elucidate the role of riverine versus tidal impact on coastal North Sea methane fluxes.

Description: Numerous articles have recently reported on gas seepage offshore Svalbard, because of gas emission that may be due to gas hydrate dissociation, possibly triggered by anthropogenic ocean warming. Here we report on findings for a much broader extent of seepage in water depths at and shallower than the gas hydrate stability zone. More than a thousand gas seepage sites imaged as acoustic flares generate a hundreds of kilometer-long plume. Most flares were detected in the vicinity of the Hornsund Fracture Zone. We postulate that the gas ascends from depth along the fracture zone; its discharge is focused on bathymetric highs and is constrained by glaciomarine and Holocene sediments in the troughs. A fraction of this dissolved methane (~1.8%) was oxidized whereas a minor but measureable fraction (0.05%) was transferred into the atmosphere in August 2015. The large scale seepage reported here is not linked to anthropogenic warming.

Description: Measuring environmental variables over longer times in coastal marine environments is a challenge in regard to sensor maintenance and data processing of continuously produced comprehensive datasets. In the project “MOSES” (Modular Observation Solutions for Earth Systems), this procedure became even more complicated because seven large Helmholtz centers from the research field Earth and Environment (E&E) within the framework of the German Ministery of Educatiopn and Research (BMBF) work together to design and construct a large scale monitoring network across earth compartments to study the effects of short-term events on long term environmental trends. This requires the development of robust and standardized automated data acquisition and processing routines, to ensure reliable, accure and precise data. Here, the results of two intercomparison workshops on senor accuracy and precicion for selected environmental variables are presented. Environmental sensors which were to be used in MOSES campaigns on hydrological extremes (floods and draughts) in the Elbe catchment and the adjacent coastal areas in the North Sea in 2019 to 2020 were compared for selected parameters (temperature, salinity, chlorophyll-A, turbidity and methane) in the same experimentally controlled water body, assuming that all sensors provide comparable data. Results were analyzed with respect to individual sensor accuracy and precision related to an “assumed” real value as well as with respect to a cost versus accuracy/precision index for measuring specific environmental data. The results show, that accuracy and precision of sensors do not necessarily correlate with the price of the sensors and that low cost sensors may provide the same or even higher accuracy and precision values as even the highest price sensor types.