ROLLIN’ IN THE DEEP: A view of the Indonesian village of Sorowako from Julia Maresca’s research vessel floating on iron-rich Lake MatanoJULIA MARESCA
Until 2008, a simple molecule—one carbon flanked by four hydrogens, aka methane—had oceanographers scratching their heads. Methane levels are supersaturated on ocean surfaces, meaning they are higher than expected given atmospheric concentrations. Yet, scientists only knew of methanogenesis in anaerobic archaea deep down on the oxygen-depleted ocean floor. The abundance of methane in oxygen-rich surface waters became known as the “methane paradox,” a curiosity with potential implications for global warming given that the greenhouse gas moves easily from supersaturated water into the atmosphere.
But the source of methane underlying the paradox remained unsolved until David Karl at the University of Hawaii and colleagues discovered that laboratory-grown aerobic marine microbes can break down methylphosphonate and produce methane (Nat Geosci, 1:473-78, 2008). Four years later, researchers found ...
