Bubble Gas Escapes from the Bottom of Lake Baikal: Observation with Help of the Echosounder, Estimation of Methane Flux and Connection of this Flux with Bubble Flare Height

Makarov M. M., Muyakshin S. I., Kucher K. M., Aslamov I. A., Gnatovsky R. Y., Granin N. G.

The paper summarizes the results of echolocation measurements of gas flux from the bubble gas escapes at the bottom of Lake Baikal, obtained in 2005—2014. For the first time the relationship between the height of the acoustic image of the rising bubbles jet and the corresponding methane flux was established. An analysis of this dependence shows that all gas flares are divided into three groups depending on their depth: shallow, intermediate and deep gas seeps. The results of unique observations of three events of gas eruption are discussed. It is shown that the methane flux in the first emissions was by more than an order of magnitude higher than the average, typical for the steady-state emission regime. The range of bubbles radii variation was estimated by ascent rate of bubbles clouds boundaries localized by depth.

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