Collaborative Research: Gas Hydrate Contribution to the Ross Sea Carbon Budget; Shallow Sediment to Water Column; Present and Future

合作研究：天然气水合物对罗斯海碳预算的贡献；

• 批准号: 2044476
• 负责人: Wade Jeffrey
• 金额: $ 24.96万
• 依托单位: University of West Florida
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-10-01 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2044476&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Gas; Hydrate; Contribution

Understanding climate change on Earth requires significant insight on geochemical and geobiological cycles in both polar regions and many environments in between. Methane is a major focus because of its substantial sediment loading and its high atmospheric heat absorption as a greenhouse gas. While the Arctic has been the primary climate change focus for studies on methane, the Antarctic’s Ross Sea, embedded with a vast ephemeral reservoir of carbon, has been recognized to have an extensive bottom ocean layer – sediment interface that is one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth. New studies are needed to test the significance of potentially vast transitory gas hydrate carbon reservoirs present in the Ross Sea and provide a thorough assessment of methane reservoirs in the Southern Ocean. The focus on the Ross Sea is justified by recent drilling expeditions, which suggest a susceptibility of the Ross Sea to climatic fluctuations. This large carbon reserve appears to be sealed in the form of gas hydrate as evidenced by wide-spread seismic evidence. Intriguingly, recent recognition of similar seismic data indicates that this carbon reservoir has been underestimated due to carbon storage in deep sediment hydrates.The proposed project will serve as a foundation for improving both future simulations of oceanic carbon and the interpretation of past paleo-oceanographic cycles. In this project, plans are presented to explore a possible extensive gas hydrate reservoir in Ross Sea sediment and determine whether climate change could be influencing this region. This large carbon reserve appears to be held in the form of gas hydrate as evidenced by key seismic data. This indication of warming and ice melting coupled with high thermogenic gas hydrate loadings suggest the Ross Sea is an essential environment to determine contributions of current day and potential future methane, petroleum, and glacial carbon to shallow sediment and water column carbon cycles. The project will compare carbon source(s) and cycling within phytoplankton, glacier ice, shallow sediment carbon, oil sourced from deep sediment, and methane trapped in gas hydrates. Data collection will include seismic profiling, geochemistry, and geo-microbiology parameters conducted via two field campaigns in the Ross Sea, tentatively planned for December/January 2022/2023 and February/April 2024. The diverse team includes experts in geophysics, geochemistry, ocean chemistry, geo-microbiology and isotope geochemistry. Ultimately, the project aims to create baseline data of present-day conditions in the Ross Sea to provide capability for assessing future anthropogenic influence on carbon cycling. In addition to the scientific activities, the project has extensive educational activities, since education related to climate change requires thorough provision of information across all academic levels, government and the public. The project will fund four graduate students and support the training of undergraduate researchers. Results will be disseminated internationally to non-scientific audiences through field blogs, PI Websites, numerous education and outreach activities, as well as being incorporated into graduate and undergraduate courses. Finally, this project will provide training and support for undergraduate, graduate, and early career researchers at a Hispanic Serving Institution.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

了解地球上的气候变化需要对两极地区以及其间许多环境的地球化学和地球生物循环有深入的了解，因为甲烷具有大量的沉积物和作为温室气体的高大气吸热性。南极罗斯海是甲烷研究的主要气候变化焦点，它蕴藏着巨大的临时碳库，已被认为拥有广阔的海底层-沉积物界面，是地球上变暖最快的区域之一。研究是需要测试罗斯海中存在的潜在巨大的临时天然气水合物碳储层的重要性，并对南大洋的甲烷储层进行全面评估。最近的钻探考察证明了对罗斯海的关注，这表明罗斯海的敏感性。有趣的是，最近对类似地震数据的认识表明，这一巨大的碳储量似乎以天然气水合物的形式被密封。由于深层沉积物水合物中的碳储存而被低估。拟议的项目将为改进未来海洋碳模拟和过去古海洋循环的解释奠定基础。在该项目中，提出了探索可能的广泛天然气水合物的计划。罗斯海沉积物中的储层，并确定气候变化是否会影响该地区，这一巨大的碳储量似乎以天然气水合物的形式存在，这一迹象表明变暖和冰融化与高热成因天然气水合物有关。负载建议罗斯海是确定当前和未来潜在的甲烷、石油和冰川碳对浅层沉积物和水柱碳循环的贡献的重要环境。该项目将比较浮游植物、冰川、浅层沉积物碳、深层沉积物中的石油以及天然气水合物中捕获的甲烷数据收集将包括通过罗斯地区的两次现场勘探进行的地震剖面、地球化学和地球微生物学参数。海洋，暂定于 2022 年 12 月/2023 年 1 月和 2024 年 2 月/4 月进行。多元化的团队包括地球物理学、地球化学、海洋化学、地球微生物学和同位素地球化学领域的专家，该项目的最终目标是创建当今的基线数据。罗斯海的条件，以提供评估未来人为对碳循环的影响的能力 除了科学活动外，该项目还开展广泛的教育活动，因为教育与相关。气候变化需要在所有学术层面、政府和公众中提供全面的信息。该项目将资助四名研究生并支持本科生研究人员的培训。研究结果将通过领域博客、PI 网站等在国际上传播。最后，该项目将为西班牙裔服务机构的本科生、研究生和早期职业研究人员提供培训和支持。该奖项是 NSF 的法定使命，并被认为是值得的。通过评估提供支持基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。