Vol. 21, issue 06, article # 12

Abstract:

The global presence of methane gas hydrates in subbotom layers of the World Ocean, as well as results of investigation of air bubbles from ice cores in Greenland and Antarctica have led researchers to the hypothesis on prevailing influence of decomposition of methane gas hydrates on the change in the Earth climate and completion of the last ice age. The three-dimensional mathematical model of the dissolved gas transport by the ocean currents was used for quantitative evaluation of possible consequences of methane hydrate destabilization. A possibility of the subbottom methane hydrate destabilization under impact of the surface temperature variation for several thousands of years has been studied. A few scenario experiments with different scales of the surface ocean temperature changes were carried out, which have shown that changes in the concentration of methane, resulted from decomposition of the subbottom methane hydrates, can be the consequence of temperature changes. Thus, long period of warming can result in destabilization of hydrates in a sedimentary layer of the ocean. The calculated methane flux into the atmosphere turned to be equal to 18 Tg/year.