Changes in sea level and organic carbon burial may have affected seafloor methane seepage over the past 150 million years.
methane
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Arctic Plankton Populations Vary by Season
Planktonic foraminifera and sea snail numbers swell from April to June in the Barents Sea, but contrary to predictions, the organisms do not appear to be affected directly by high methane levels.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Methane’s Rising: What Can We Do to Bring It Down?
Reducing methane emissions is critical for addressing climate warming, but which are the easiest and most cost-effective ways to do this?
Posted inNews
Oktoberfest’s Methane Rise Is the Wurst
Incomplete combustion and biogenic emissions—exhalations and flatulence—make Oktoberfest a significant, albeit temporary, source of the potent greenhouse gas.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Where Do Natural Gas Hydrates Come from and Why Should We Care?
A new generation of models, laboratory, and field studies is helping scientists answer important questions about this mysterious substance.
Posted inNews
How Scientists Search for Martian Methane
Finding subsurface reserves of methane on Mars could revolutionize human space travel, but it won’t be an easy hunt.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Investigating Rates of Microbial Methane Munching in the Ocean
Analyses of microbial activity in seawater samples help clarify the fate of methane released from the seafloor.
Posted inNews
Fugitive Gas Abetted by Barometric Pressure
Barometric pressure, in addition to factors such as lithology and the depth of the water table, can influence patterns of natural gas that escapes to subsurface soils.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Methane-Releasing Tundra Soils Freezing Later Each Year
Scientists find links between delayed freezing of Alaskan soils and higher atmospheric methane concentrations during the cold season.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
In Pennsylvania, Methane Emissions Higher Than EPA Estimates
Although methane emission estimates from underground coal production appear to be accurate, the calculated emissions from natural gas production are underreported.