Nearshore Arctic Subsea Permafrost in Transition

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Print Version (273649 bytes) EOS, TRANSACTIONS AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION, VOL. 88, NO. 13, doi:10.1029/2007EO130001, 2007 Nearshore Arctic Subsea Permafrost in Transition Volker Rachold Research Department Potsdam, Alfred Wegener Institute, Potsdam, Germany International Arctic Science Committee, Stockholm Dmitry Yu Bolshiyanov Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia Mikhail N. Grigoriev Permafrost Institute, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, Russia Hans-Wolfgang Hubberten Research Department Potsdam, Alfred Wegener Institute, Potsdam, Germany Ralf Junker Institute of Geology, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany Victor V. Kunitsky Permafrost Institute, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, Russia Franziska Merker Research Department Potsdam, Alfred Wegener Institute, Potsdam, Germany Paul Overduin Research Department Potsdam, Alfred Wegener Institute, Potsdam, Germany Waldemar Schneider Research Department Potsdam, Alfred Wegener Institute, Potsdam, Germany Abstract Models and geophysical data indicate that large areas of the Arctic shelves, as a result of their exposure during the Last Glacial Maximum, are thought to be almost entirely underlain by subsea permafrost from the coastline down to a water depth of about 100 meters. Subsea permafrost is still poorly understood, due mainly to the lack of direct observations. However, it is known to contain gas hydrates, a solid phase composed of water and gases that formed under low-temperature, high-pressure conditions. Large volumes of methane in gas hydrate form can be stored within or below the subsea permafrost, and the stability of this gas hydrate zone is sustained by the existence of permafrost. Degradation of subsea permafrost and the consequent destabilization of gas hydrates could significantly if not dramatically increase the flux of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, to the atmosphere. Published 27 March 2007. Index Terms: 0702 Cryosphere: Permafrost (0475); 0772 Cryosphere: Distribution; 3002 Marine Geology and Geophysics: Continental shelf and slope processes (4219). Print Version (273649 bytes) Citation: Rachold, V., D. Y. Bolshiyanov, M. N. Grigoriev, H.-W. Hubberten, R. Junker, V. V. Kunitsky, F. Merker, P. Overduin, and W. Schneider (2007), Nearshore Arctic Subsea Permafrost in Transition, Eos Trans. AGU, 88(13), doi:10.1029/2007EO130001. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.

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