Distributed natural gas venting offshore along the Cascadia margin

M. Riedel (), M. Scherwath, M. Römer, M. Veloso, M. Heesemann and G. D. Spence
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M. Riedel: GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
M. Scherwath: Ocean Networks Canada, University of Victoria’s Ocean-Climate Building at the Queenswood Campus
M. Römer: MARUM—Center for Marine Environmental Sciences and Department of Geosciences at University of Bremen
M. Veloso: GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
M. Heesemann: Ocean Networks Canada, University of Victoria’s Ocean-Climate Building at the Queenswood Campus
G. D. Spence: School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract Widespread gas venting along the Cascadia margin is investigated from acoustic water column data and reveals a nonuniform regional distribution of over 1100 mapped acoustic flares. The highest number of flares occurs on the shelf, and the highest flare density is seen around the nutrition-rich outflow of the Juan de Fuca Strait. We determine ∼430 flow-rates at ∼340 individual flare locations along the margin with instantaneous in situ values ranging from ∼6 mL min−1 to ∼18 L min−1. Applying a tidal-modulation model, a depth-dependent methane density, and extrapolating these results across the margin using two normalization techniques yields a combined average in situ flow-rate of ∼88 × 106 kg y−1. The average methane flux-rate for the Cascadia margin is thus estimated to ∼0.9 g y−1m−2. Combined uncertainties result in a range of these values between 4.5 and 1800% of the estimated mean values.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05736-x

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