The waters of the Pacific Ocean near the state of Washington, on the west coast of the United States, are warming significantly from 500 meters of depth, in the area where the methane that lies in layers of the seabed passes from the frozen solid state to gas.
According to calculations by researchers at the University of Washington, this warming is causing these carbon pools to dissolve and release considerably more methane – a greenhouse gas – into sediments and surrounding waters from the shores of Alaska to northern California. .
Until now it was thought that most of the methane emissions came from Arctic deposits, but this new study led by Evan Solomon, professor of Oceanography at the aforementioned University, estimates that between 1970 and 2013, about 4 million tons Methane metrics come from oil breakdown off the Washington coast.
Methane is the main component of natural gas. Subjected to the cold temperatures and high pressure of the ocean, it mixes with water to form crystals of methane hydrate . The North Pacific contains unusually large deposits of this substance due to its intense geological activity and its biologically highly productive waters.
But other coastal areas around the world could contain deposits just as vulnerable to warming , according to the research. After four decades of collecting data, it has been detected that the deep waters are the ones that have warmed the most due to climate change.
