User:Ayla Crosby/Methane chimney

Marine life
Methane chimneys play a major role in marine life, creating chemical deposits that are habitat to a plethora of life. These highly productive ecosystems occur in a wide range of marine geological settings across the world. Chimneys teem with organisms that feed on the methane and toxic sulfide that are released from the chimneys. Life surrounding the marine methane chimneys consume 90% of methane released, preventing it from entering the atmosphere. Microbes around methane chimneys form the basis for the entire food web, these microbes are chemolithotrophs, and thus do not require sunlight or oxygen to survive. Marine methane chimneys produce minerals that fertilize the ocean, creating optimal spawning habitats for deep sea sharks and other fish .They are also host to deep sea crabs, shrimp, mussels, clams, and more shellfish. The expanse of life and ecosystems that these vents provide is still largely unexplored.

Association with climate change[edit]
''Large deposits of frozen methane, when thawing, release gas into the environment. In cases of sub-sea permafrost, the methane gas may be dissolved in the seawater before reaching the surface. However, in a number of sites around the world, these methane chimneys release the gas directly into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.'' Research teams in the Arctic measured concentrations of methane to be the highest ever recorded in the summertime. The thawing underwater permafrost is affecting methane release in two ways: thawing organic matter trapped in the permafrost releases methane and carbon dioxide as it decomposes, and methane in gas or solid form beneath the thawing permafrost seeps up through the now-soft soil and escapes into the atmosphere. In part of a project called the International Siberian Shelf Study that looked at arctic methane emissions, scientists discovered that methane concentrations released from subsea chimneys and seeps were often 100 times higher than background levels, and methane gas has 20 times the heat-trapping capabilities as carbon dioxide.

Trees as methane chimneys[edit]
''Trees in swampy, low-laying areas can conduct methane produced in soils up through their stems and out their leaves. Other plants in bogs and marshes also act in this way.'' In the Amazon Rainforest, recent studies have named trees a "massive chimney for pumping out methane". Findings estimated that the Amazon Rainforest emits around 40 million tons of methane a year; as much as the entire arctic permafrost systems. When large portions of the Amazon Basin flood, they create ideal conditions for high-level methane production. Trees are not the only plants that act as methane chimneys, however, studies have shown that species with greater root volume and biomass tend to exhibit a stronger chimney effect, and methane emissions in plant species are increased by raising the water table.