Massive marine methane emissions from near-shore shallow coastal areas

Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas contributing to climate warming. The open ocean is a minor source of methane to the atmosphere. We report intense methane emissions from the near-shore southern region of the North Sea characterized by the presence of extensive areas with gassy sediments. The average flux intensities (~130 μmol m(-2) d(-1)) are one order of magnitude higher than values characteristic of continental shelves (~30 μmol m(-2) d(-1)) and three orders of magnitude higher than values characteristic of the open ocean (~0.4 μmol m(-2) d(-1)). The high methane concentrations (up to 1,128 nmol L(-1)) that sustain these fluxes are related to the shallow and well-mixed water column that allows an efficient transfer of methane from the seafloor to surface waters. This differs from deeper and stratified seep areas where there is a large decrease of methane between bottom and surface by microbial oxidation or physical transport. Shallow well-mixed continental shelves represent about 33% of the total continental shelf area, so that marine coastal methane emissions are probably under-estimated. Near-shore and shallow seep areas are hot spots of methane emission, and our data also suggest that emissions could increase in response to warming of surface waters.