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New research reveals rapid methane release mechanism at the front of retreating ice sheets (during last glacial cycle)
https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/new-research-reveals-rapid-methane-release-mechanism-at-the-front-of-retreating-ice-sheets/14 May 2026
Written by: James Schofield
An international team of scientists has discovered that methane hydrates beneath the northwest Greenland continental shelf became rapidly destabilised by meltwater, releasing large stores of methane during ice-sheet retreat across the continental shelf.
The findings, published in Nature Geoscience, suggest that this fast‑acting mechanism may have contributed to past climate events and could well contribute to future climate change as polar ice sheets continue to retreat.
The study draws on samples collected during the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 400, one of the final missions of the decades long‑running global marine research programme. By analysing sediment cores drilled offshore in northwest Greenland, researchers found unexpectedly low methane concentrations in layers where methane hydrates would normally be abundant.
High‑resolution 3D seismic imaging revealed widespread pockmarks and fluid‑escape structures on the seafloor, indicating that methane‑rich fluids had once migrated rapidly through the sediments. The evidence points to a striking conclusion, methane hydrates in this region were locally dissolved and flushed out by large volumes of meltwater during the last glacial cycle.
…
Wang, J., Newton, A.M.W., Huuse, M. et al. Gas hydrate dissolution triggered by subglacial groundwater flushing during deglaciation. Nat. Geosci. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-026-01978-3Written by: James Schofield
An international team of scientists has discovered that methane hydrates beneath the northwest Greenland continental shelf became rapidly destabilised by meltwater, releasing large stores of methane during ice-sheet retreat across the continental shelf.
The findings, published in Nature Geoscience, suggest that this fast‑acting mechanism may have contributed to past climate events and could well contribute to future climate change as polar ice sheets continue to retreat.
The study draws on samples collected during the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 400, one of the final missions of the decades long‑running global marine research programme. By analysing sediment cores drilled offshore in northwest Greenland, researchers found unexpectedly low methane concentrations in layers where methane hydrates would normally be abundant.
High‑resolution 3D seismic imaging revealed widespread pockmarks and fluid‑escape structures on the seafloor, indicating that methane‑rich fluids had once migrated rapidly through the sediments. The evidence points to a striking conclusion, methane hydrates in this region were locally dissolved and flushed out by large volumes of meltwater during the last glacial cycle.
…