Oxidation is a potentially significant methane sink in land-terminating glacial runoff.

Globally, aquatic ecosystems are one of the largest but most uncertain sources of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. It is unclear how climate change will affect methane emissions, but recent work suggests that glacial systems, which are melting faster with climate change, may be an important source of methane to the atmosphere. Currently, studies quantifying glacial emissions are limited in number, and the role of methanotrophy, or microbial methane oxidizers, in reducing atmospheric emissions from source and receiving waters is not well known.