Methane in Water and Bottom Sediments in Three Sections in the Kara and Laptev Seas

Abstract

The methane content in water and bottom sediments was measured in vertical sections: Lena River Delta–continental slope (the Laptev Sea), Taimyr Peninsula–Voronin Trough, and along the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago. The methane concentrations varied from 2.5 to 70 nmol/L and from 590 to 2600 nmol/L in the water column and sediments, respectively. Most of the surface water samples showed oversaturation in methane (up to 19-fold, fourfold on average), which determined the water–atmosphere direction of methane fluxes, which amounted to 1–400 mol/km² day (52 mol/km² day on average).