Methane emissions from subglacial meltwater of three alpine glaciers in Yukon, Canada

Sapper, Sarah Elise; Jørgensen, Christian Juncher; Schroll, Moritz; Keppler, Frank; Christiansen, Jesper Riis

doi:10.1080/15230430.2023.2284456

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 39 publications

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“…The advance of glaciers over vegetation secures a subglacial reservoir of organic carbon that can be microbially degraded into methane, which is then trapped by the overburden of the overlying glacier and accumulates. Studies have detected methane releases at margins of retreating ice sheets and glaciers in Canada, Greenland and Iceland, where microbially-produced methane in the anoxic environment of the glacier bed is transported by meltwater and degassed to the atmosphere (Burns et al, 2018;Christiansen et al, 2021;Christiansen and Jørgensen, 2018;Dieser et al, 2014;Lamarche-Gagnon et al, 2019;Pain et al, 2020;Sapper et al, 2023). The findings of Lamarche-Gagnon et al (2019) suggest that the methane reserves beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet greatly exceed the methane transported to its margin, and thus increased melt in the future may lead to increased export and release of methane.…”

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confidence: 99%

Proglacial methane emissions driven by meltwater and groundwater flushing in a high Arctic glacial catchment

Kleber,

Magerl,

Turchyn

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Abstract. Glacial groundwater releases geologic methane in areas of glacier retreat on Svalbard, representing a large, climate-sensitive source of the greenhouse gas. Methane emissions from glacial melt rivers are known to occur in other regions of the Arctic, but such emissions have not yet been considered on Svalbard. Over two summers, we monitored methane concentrations in the proglacial groundwater springs and river network of a 20 km2 valley glacier in central Svalbard to estimate melt season emissions from a single catchment. We found that methane concentrations in the glacial river reach up to 3170 nM, which is nearly 800-times higher than the atmospheric equilibrial concentration. We estimate a total of 1.0 ton of melt season methane emissions from the catchment, of which nearly two-thirds are being flushed from the glacier bed by the melt river. These findings provide further evidence that terrestrial glacier forefields on Svalbard are hotspots for methane emissions, with a climate feedback loop driven by glacier melt. As the first investigation into methane emissions from glacial melt rivers on Svalbard, our study suggests that summer meltwater flushing of methane from the ~1400 land-terminating glaciers across Svalbard may represent an important seasonal source of emissions. Furthermore, glacial melt rivers may be a growing emission source across other rapidly warming regions of the Arctic.

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confidence: 99%

Proglacial methane emissions driven by meltwater and groundwater flushing in a high Arctic glacial catchment

Kleber,

Magerl,

Turchyn

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Characteristics of methane and carbon dioxide in ice caves at a high-mountain glacier of China

Du,

Cui,

Wang

et al. 2024

Science of The Total Environment

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CH4 emissions from runoff water of Alaskan mountain glaciers

Konya,

Sueyoshi,

Iwahana

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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Recent studies have observed high methane concentrations in runoff water and the ambient air at various glacier sites, including the Greenland Ice Sheet, the glacier forefield in Svalbard, and the ice cap in Iceland. This study extends these findings to smaller mountain glaciers in Alaska. Methane and carbon dioxide concentrations in the ambient air near the meltwater outlet, fluxes of these gases at the surface of runoff water and riverbank sediments, and dissolved methane content in the runoff water were measured at four glaciers. Three of the four glaciers showed conspicuous signals of methane emissions from runoff water, with the Castner Glacier terminus exhibiting a methane concentration three times higher than background levels, along with elevated dissolved methane levels in the runoff water. This study marks the detection of significant methane emissions from small mountain glacier runoff, contributing to the understanding that mountain glaciers also release methane into the atmosphere.

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Methane emissions from subglacial meltwater of three alpine glaciers in Yukon, Canada

Cited by 4 publications

References 39 publications

Proglacial methane emissions driven by meltwater and groundwater flushing in a high Arctic glacial catchment

Proglacial methane emissions driven by meltwater and groundwater flushing in a high Arctic glacial catchment

Characteristics of methane and carbon dioxide in ice caves at a high-mountain glacier of China

CH4 emissions from runoff water of Alaskan mountain glaciers

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