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In Shallow Water Ships Trigger Seafloor Methane Emissions, Study Finds
An anonymous reader shared this report from the Washington Post: Ships trigger seafloor methane emissions while moving through shallow water, researchers report in Communications Earth & Environment. The scientists say the unexpected discovery has nothing to do with the type of fuel used by the...
Instead, "ship-induced pressure changes and turbulent mixing" trigger the release of the gas from the seafloor. Researchers said they observed emissions that were 20 times higher in the shipping lane than in undisturbed nearby areas. Given the number of ports in similarly shallow areas worldwide, it's important to learn more about emissions in shipping lanes and to better estimate their " hitherto unknown impact," study co-author Johan Mellqvist, a professor of optical remote sensing at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, said in a news release.
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