Articles | Volume 21, issue 23
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17607-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17607-2021
Research article
 | 
03 Dec 2021
Research article |  | 03 Dec 2021

Long-term atmospheric emissions for the Coal Oil Point natural marine hydrocarbon seep field, offshore California

Ira Leifer, Christopher Melton, and Donald R. Blake

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Cited articles

Abrams, M. A.: Significance of hydrocarbon seepage relative to petroleum generation and entrapment, Mar. Petrol. Geol., 22, 457–477, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2004.08.003, 2005. 
Abrams, M. A.: Evaluation of near-surface gases in marine sediments to assess subsurface petroleum gas generation and entrapment, Geosciences, 7, 35, https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences7020035, 2017. 
Bernard, B. B., Brooks, J. M., and Zumberge, J.: Determining the origin of gases in near-surface sediments, AAPG Hedberg Conference, Vancouver BC, Canada, 16–19 September 2001, 1–4, 2001. 
Boles, J. R., Clark, J. F., Leifer, I., and Washburn, L.: Temporal variation in natural methane seep rate due to tides, Coal Oil Point area, California, J. Geophys. Res.-Oceans, 106, 27077–27086, https://doi.org/10.1029/2000JC000774, 2001. 
Borges, A. V., Champenois, W., Gypens, N., Delille, B., and Harlay, J.: Massive marine methane emissions from near-shore shallow coastal areas, Sci. Rep., 6, 27908, https://doi.org/10.1038/srep27908, 2016. 
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Short summary
We demonstrate a novel application using air quality station data to derive 3-decade-averaged emissions from the Coal Oil Point (COP) seep field, a highly spatially and temporally variable geological migration system. Emissions were 19 Gg per year, suggesting that the COP seep field contributes 0.27 % of the global marine seep budget based on a recent estimate. This provides an advance over snapshot survey values by accounting for seasonal and interannual variations.
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