Ship passages drive 'high and unexpected' methane emissions, new study reveals

Ship traffic in shallow areas, such as ports, can trigger large methane emissions by just moving through the water, a new study found.

The study “Coastal methane emissions triggered by ship passages” was led by Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.

As informed, the researchers observed twenty times higher methane emissions in the shipping lane compared to nearby undisturbed areas. Despite the fact that methane is a greenhouse gas that is 27 times as powerful as carbon dioxide, these emissions are often overlooked with today’s measurement methods.

“Our measurements show that ship passages trigger clear pulses of high methane fluxes from the water to the atmosphere. This is caused by pressure changes and mixing of the water mass. Even if the pulses are short, the total amount during a day is significant,”Amanda Nylund, Researcher at Chalmers University of Technology and the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI), said.

Methane has been described as a ‘potent’ greenhouse gas and the concern about methane emissions from the few ships that run on liquefied natural gas (LNG) is a