Researchers claim to have unlocked the interaction patterns between the seabed fluctuations in the southwestern oceanic area of Taiwan, which is home to many underwater mud volcanoes, and the ebb and flow of tides.
A team from National Central University also discovered that during seabed fluctuations caused by changes in tides, methane gas is released into the water and atmosphere, which may be collected for energy resources or become greenhouse gas.
At a press conference at the National Science Council yesterday, Hsu Shu-kun (許樹坤), a professor of earth sciences at the university, said there are many mud volcanoes about 100m tall located 500m or more below the surface of the sea in that area.
Photo: Chen Yi-ching, Taipei Times
His council-funded team found that as the tide changes, the depth of the water also changes, leading to changing water pressure on the seabed.
When the tide is low, Hsu said, the water becomes shallower, reducing the water pressure on the seabed, whereupon methane clathrate (methane trapped within a crystal structure of water, in the form of a solid) under the seabed releases the methane component and is released from the more shallow parts of the seabed.
Hsu said the release of methane from the seabed about 500m underwater and the fluctuations of the seabed in connection with the changing tide work like a “water pump.” He said such a process has not been found in other parts of the world.
Based on the data gathered so far, the concentration of methane and carbon dioxide released as a result of seabed fluctuations is very high, Hsu said.
If ways were found to collect the methane, Hsu said, it could be turned into a valuable energy source.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to