Abstract
This article presents an inverse hydroacoustic method for the remote quantification of the total gas flux transported from an underwater bubble plume. The method includes the surveying of the bubble plume by a vertically looking echo sounder and the calculation of the flux using the spatial distribution of the ultrasound backscattering at a fixed depth. A simplified parameterization containing only a few parameters is introduced to describe the empirical bubble size distribution. The linear correlation between the backscattering cross section of the bubble stream and the vertical gas flux is found. The calculation procedure takes into account the occurrence of a gas hydrate film at the bubble’s surface. The influence of different parameters on the accuracy of the method is investigated. The resolution volume of the echo sounder corresponding to the fixed distance is considered as a two-dimensional spatial window. The method was applied to quantify the total convective methane flux at the Haakon-Mosby mud volcano (HMMV) depth 1280 m. The calculated values of the total flux near the bottom (100–400 t/year) are in good agreement with the independently estimated flux for the single bubble jet observed from the ROV (70 t/year). These calculations also show significant temporal variability of the flux at the HMMV. The total flux was found to vary by about a factor of 2–3 within time scales of days.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
V. K. Goncharov and N. Yu. Klement’eva, “Modeling the Dynamics and Conditions of Sonic Scattering of Gas Bubbles Coming to the Surface from Great Depths in the Sea in the Area of Oil and Gas Fields,” Akust. Zh. 42(3), 371–377 (1995).
E. Sauter, A. Betius, E. Damm, et al., “Some Results of Echolocation Shooting of the Source of Methane Associated with Deep-Sea Mud Volcano ‘Hakon Mosbi’,” in Collected Papers of XV Session of RAO (Nizhnii Novgorod, 2003), Vol. 2, pp. 165–168 [in Russian].
L. P. Zonnenshain, I. O. Murdmaa, B. V. Baranov, et al., “Underwater Gas Source in the Sea of Okhotsk to the West of the Island of Paramushir,” Okeanologiya 27(5), 795–800 (1987).
K. Klei and G. Medvin, Acoustic Oceanography (MIR, Moscow, 1980) [in Russian].
A. O. Maksimov and E. V. Sosedko, “Dynamics of Vesicles Coated with a Gas-Hydrate Shell,” in Collected Papers of XVI Session of RAO (GEOS, Moscow, 2004), Vol. 2, pp. 234–237 [in Russian].
Monitoring of Methane in the Sea of Okhotsk, Ed. by A. Obzhirov et al. (Dal’nauka, Vladivostok, 2002) [in Russian].
S. I. Muyakshin and E. Sauter, “Echolocation Method for Determining the Gas Flow from the Source of the Underwater Bubbles,” in Collected Papers of XIX Session of RAO (GEOS, Moscow, 2007), Vol. 2, pp. 50–53 [in Russian].
A. S. Salomatin and V. I. Yusupov, “Quantitative Assessment of “Gas Torch” Parameters with a Sonar,” in Collected Papers of XVI Session of RAO (GEOS, Moscow, 2004), Vol. 2, pp. 230–233 [in Russian].
J. Greinert and B. Nuetzel, “Hydroacoustic Experiments to Establish a Method for the Determination of Methane Bubble Fluxes at Cold Seeps,” Geo-Mar. Lett. 24, 75–85, doi:10.1007/s0367-003-0165-7 (2004).
J. Greinert, Y. Artemov, L. Naudts, and M. De Batist, “Methane ‘Bubble’ Seeps in the Black Sea and Approaches for a Hydroacoustic Methane Flux Determination,” in Proc. of the 7 European Conference on Underwater Acoustics, ECUA 2004 (Delft, The Nethterlands, 2004), Vol. 2, pp. 863–868.
J. Greinert, Yu. Artemov, V. Egorov, et al., “1300-m-High Rising Bubbles from Mud Volcanoes at 2080m in the Black Sea: Hydroacoustic Characteristics and Temporal Variability,” Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 244, 1–15 (2006).
K. U. Heeschen, R. W. Collier, M. A. de Angelis, et al., “Methane Sources, Distribution and Fluxes from Cold Vent Sites at Hydrate Ridge, Cascadia Margin,” Global Biochem. Cycles 19, GB2016, doi: 1029/2004GB002266 (2005).
J. S. Hornafius, D. Quigley, and B. P. Luyendyk, “The World’s Most Spectacular Marine Hydrocarbon Seeps (Coal Oil Point, Santa Barbara Channel, California): Quantification of Emission,” J. Geophys. Res. 104(C9), 20703–20711 (1999).
I. Leifer and A. G. Judd, “Oceanic Methane Layers: The Hydrocarbon Seep Bubble Deposition Hypothesis,” Terra Nova 14(6), 417–424 (2002).
I. Leifer and R. K. Patro, “The Bubble Mechanism for Methane Transport from the Shallow Sea Bed to the Surface: A Review and Sensitivity Study,” Cont. Shelf Res. 22, 2409–2428 (2002).
R. Merewether, M. S. Olsson, and P. Lonsdale, “Acoustically Detected Hydrocarbon Plumes Rising from 2-km Depth in Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California,” J. Geopys. Res. 90(B4), 3075–3085 (1985).
G. Rehder, P. W. Brewer, E. T. Peltzer, and G. Friedrich, “Enhanced Lifetime of Methane Bubble Streams within the Deep Ocean,” Geophys. Res. Lett. 29(15) doi: 10.1029/2001GL013966, (2002).
E. J. Sauter, S. Muyakshin, J.-L. Charlou, et al., “Methane Discharge from a Deep-Sea Submarine Mud Volcano into the Upper Water Column by Gas Hydrate-Coated Methane Bubbles,” Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 243, 354–365 (2006).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Original Russian Text © S.I. Muyakshin, E. Sauter, 2010, published in Okeanologiya, 2010, Vol. 50, No. 6, pp. 1045–1051.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Muyakshin, S.I., Sauter, E. The hydroacoustic method for the quantification of the gas flux from a submersed bubble plume. Oceanology 50, 995–1001 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437010060202
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0001437010060202