Tidal and seasonal influence on cold seep activity and methanotroph efficiency in the North Sea

Tim R. de Groot; Malika Menoud; Judith van Bleijswijk; Sonja M. van Leeuwen; J. van der Molen; Victor Hernando-Morales; Helen Czerski; Hossein Maazallahi; Sylvia Walter; Darci Rush; Thomas Röckmann; Helge Niemann

doi:10.1038/s43247-024-01483-8

Tidal and seasonal influence on cold seep activity and methanotroph efficiency in the North Sea

Tim R. de Groot^*
, Malika Menoud
, Judith van Bleijswijk
, Sonja M. van Leeuwen
, J. van der Molen
, Victor Hernando-Morales
, Helen Czerski
, Hossein Maazallahi
, Sylvia Walter
, Darci Rush
, Thomas Röckmann
, Helge Niemann^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research - NIOZ
University of Vigo
University College London

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

The ocean’s methane emission to the atmosphere is dominated by continental shelves where cold seeps are globally common features. Seeps emit methane into the hydrosphere, but temporal variations and controls of seep activity and the efficiency of the microbial methane filter in the water column are scarce. Here we address these knowledge gaps by measuring whole water column methane inventories and methanotrophic activity at a temporal resolution of 2 hours at a North Sea cold seep (Doggerbank) in summer and autumn. We found that bottom water methane inventories were 68% (summer) and 11% (autumn) higher during low tide compared to high tide coinciding with increased methanotrophic activity. The activity of methanotrophs was reduced during autumn when the water column was fully mixed and matched by higher methane emissions to the atmosphere. Our results show that tides are underappreciated controls on seepage and methanotrophic activity and methane sea–atmosphere fluxes.

Original language	English
Article number	368
Journal	Communications Earth and Environment
Volume	5
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01483-8
Publication status	Published - 12 Jul 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.

Funding

We thank our colleagues from the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted the research. We specifically thank Harry Witte for assistance with Cascabel, Sanne Vreugdenhil, and Maartje Brouwer for setting up the qPCR method, Emna Zeghal and Bart Meijninger, and the captain and crew of R/V Pelagia for their help at sea. We would also like to show our gratitude to Pierre Ramond and Julia Engelmann for their insights and help with sequence work.DAS:All data will be archived and made publicly available in the DAS database (Data Archive System, https://doi.org/10.25850/nioz/7b.b.jh. Sequence data for this study have been deposited in the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) at EMBL-EBI under accession number PRJEB76184.

Funders
Koninklijk Nederlands Instituut voor Onderzoek der Zee

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de Groot, T. R., Menoud, M., van Bleijswijk, J., van Leeuwen, S. M., van der Molen, J., Hernando-Morales, V., Czerski, H., Maazallahi, H., Walter, S., Rush, D., Röckmann, T., & Niemann, H. (2024). Tidal and seasonal influence on cold seep activity and methanotroph efficiency in the North Sea. Communications Earth and Environment, 5(1), Article 368. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01483-8

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title = "Tidal and seasonal influence on cold seep activity and methanotroph efficiency in the North Sea",

abstract = "The ocean{\textquoteright}s methane emission to the atmosphere is dominated by continental shelves where cold seeps are globally common features. Seeps emit methane into the hydrosphere, but temporal variations and controls of seep activity and the efficiency of the microbial methane filter in the water column are scarce. Here we address these knowledge gaps by measuring whole water column methane inventories and methanotrophic activity at a temporal resolution of 2 hours at a North Sea cold seep (Doggerbank) in summer and autumn. We found that bottom water methane inventories were 68\% (summer) and 11\% (autumn) higher during low tide compared to high tide coinciding with increased methanotrophic activity. The activity of methanotrophs was reduced during autumn when the water column was fully mixed and matched by higher methane emissions to the atmosphere. Our results show that tides are underappreciated controls on seepage and methanotrophic activity and methane sea–atmosphere fluxes.",

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de Groot, TR, Menoud, M, van Bleijswijk, J, van Leeuwen, SM, van der Molen, J, Hernando-Morales, V, Czerski, H, Maazallahi, H, Walter, S, Rush, D, Röckmann, T & Niemann, H 2024, 'Tidal and seasonal influence on cold seep activity and methanotroph efficiency in the North Sea', Communications Earth and Environment, vol. 5, no. 1, 368. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01483-8

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T1 - Tidal and seasonal influence on cold seep activity and methanotroph efficiency in the North Sea

AU - de Groot, Tim R.

AU - Menoud, Malika

AU - van Bleijswijk, Judith

AU - van Leeuwen, Sonja M.

AU - van der Molen, J.

AU - Hernando-Morales, Victor

AU - Czerski, Helen

AU - Maazallahi, Hossein

AU - Walter, Sylvia

AU - Rush, Darci

AU - Röckmann, Thomas

AU - Niemann, Helge

PY - 2024/7/12

Y1 - 2024/7/12

N2 - The ocean’s methane emission to the atmosphere is dominated by continental shelves where cold seeps are globally common features. Seeps emit methane into the hydrosphere, but temporal variations and controls of seep activity and the efficiency of the microbial methane filter in the water column are scarce. Here we address these knowledge gaps by measuring whole water column methane inventories and methanotrophic activity at a temporal resolution of 2 hours at a North Sea cold seep (Doggerbank) in summer and autumn. We found that bottom water methane inventories were 68% (summer) and 11% (autumn) higher during low tide compared to high tide coinciding with increased methanotrophic activity. The activity of methanotrophs was reduced during autumn when the water column was fully mixed and matched by higher methane emissions to the atmosphere. Our results show that tides are underappreciated controls on seepage and methanotrophic activity and methane sea–atmosphere fluxes.

AB - The ocean’s methane emission to the atmosphere is dominated by continental shelves where cold seeps are globally common features. Seeps emit methane into the hydrosphere, but temporal variations and controls of seep activity and the efficiency of the microbial methane filter in the water column are scarce. Here we address these knowledge gaps by measuring whole water column methane inventories and methanotrophic activity at a temporal resolution of 2 hours at a North Sea cold seep (Doggerbank) in summer and autumn. We found that bottom water methane inventories were 68% (summer) and 11% (autumn) higher during low tide compared to high tide coinciding with increased methanotrophic activity. The activity of methanotrophs was reduced during autumn when the water column was fully mixed and matched by higher methane emissions to the atmosphere. Our results show that tides are underappreciated controls on seepage and methanotrophic activity and methane sea–atmosphere fluxes.

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ER -

Tidal and seasonal influence on cold seep activity and methanotroph efficiency in the North Sea

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