Tidal influence on gas bubble emissions from permanent seafloor observations at Ocean Networks Canada's cabled array NEPTUNE

Abstract:

Sonar data from the northern Cascadia margin correlate well with tidal pressure changes and not so well with currents, seafloor shaking from storms or earthquakes, or temperature changes. These data are available from Ocean Networks Canada which operates the NEPTUNE observatory with power and communications to gas hydrate sites on the continental slope, allowing 24/7 monitoring of the dynamic gas hydrate activity. Clayoquot Slope at Cascadia's Bullseye Vent and Bubbly Gulch, is equipped with a variety of sensors including a 270 kHz Imagenex 100 m range multibeam sonar, as well as Conductivity-Temperature-Depth (CTD) sensors, high precision Bottom Pressure Recorders (BPR), current meter and Ocean Bottom Seismograph (OBS). This enables statistically meaningful correlation of these data.

Hourly sonar data were collected showing venting activity in the form of gas plumes of various strengths. For four years the sonar was located at what appears to be a transient gas site, with longer periods of absolutely no venting observed activity. Here, the strongest correlation of gas bubbling is with rapid decreasing tidal pressure, where subsequent increasing tidal pressure is shutting down the degassing.

In May 2014, the sonar was moved by 500 m to a more actively venting site termed Gastown Alley, over a zone of seismic blanking interpreted as having high subsurface gas content. This site is continuously emitting gas bubbles albeit with varying numbers of plumes and intensities. The strongest correlation of gas discharge is with absolute pressures, with maximum flows at higher tidal pressures, hinting at a steady subsurface rise of gas that is squeezed out stronger at high tides, partially emptying the shallow reservoirs, and with subsiding tidal pressure the venting activity also decreases again. Thus, the two sonar sites, though only 500 m apart, show a different behavior in degassing, however, both reacting most strongly to tidal pressure changes.