Project Final Report-DE-NT0005666-This project will estimate rates of methane degradation and examine methanotrophic microbes present in arctic coastal sediments and the water column. Because of their large reservoirs of methane and methane hydrates and their sensitivity to climate change, arctic coastal oceans are an important potential contributor to atmospheric methane release. In addition to direct effects of temperature on methane hydrate stability, increasing temperature has contributed to decreasing sea ice in the Arctic over the last decade, which could lead to even higher methane fluxes to the atmosphere in the near future. This project will help to fill in critical gaps in our understanding of methane fluxes in the climate-sensitive environment of the Arctic.