Arctic melt releasing ancient methane

[Amster Dan]

Source: BBC World Edition

Scientists have identified thousands of sites in the Arctic where methane that has been stored for many millennia is bubbling into the atmosphere.

The methane has been trapped by ice, but is able to escape as the ice melts.

Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, the researchers say this ancient gas could have a significant impact on climate change.

Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after CO2 and levels are rising after a few years of stability.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18120093

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Welcome to the future site of Venus 2

[thelordofhell]

1. Ph'nglui mglw'nafh, Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

Ai! Ai!

[Amster Dan]

2. Hewlett Packard doesn't Love the Craft

[Plucketeer]

3. Little comfort in knowing

I'm partly at the mercy of dinosuar farts!

[Remmah2]

11. Decaying vegetation releases methane.

Methane is found in coal mines and natural gas.

That part of the carbon cycle took millions of years to come full circle.

[Plucketeer]

14. Right you are

I was simply being silly.

[Remmah2]

17. Somehow...........

Somehow I envisioned a giant dinosaur fraternity party feasting on beer, beans and broccoli.

That would account for the big bang theory.

[Poll_Blind]

4. This, and the methan trapped in ice under the sea should be concerning to all.

Very concerning, IMO.

PB

[patrice]

10. Also, the tundra too, right? nt

[Swede Atlanta]

5. All the more reason to look at ways to reduce our carbon emissions.....

I personally believe man is at least partly responsible for the significant changes in our climate. Whether we are or we aren't, it would be prudent for us to attempt to reduce any further destruction of the fragile balance between sustainability and sure demise.

Senatore My-head-in-my-ass from Oklahoma suggests climate change is a hoax with no basis in fact. Let him talk to south sea islanders that are seeing their precious land disappear under water as sea levels rise and storms become more violent. The stories go on and on.

[byeya]

6. Methane from melting permafrost

will also add greatly to the atmosphere's greenhouse gas load.

[AnnieK401]

7. Haven't you heard

Climate change is not real. I know because David and Charles told me so.

[rug]

8. If civilization must go, it is apt it goes by means of millennia-old farts.

[slackmaster]

9. What happens if we huff it?

[mindwalker_i]

12. When Mother Earth passes gas

People REALLY SHOULD listen.

[solarman350]

13. Methane is at least 21 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere when compared to CO2

Last edited Mon May 21, 2012, 06:03 AM - Edit history (2)

Global Warming Potentials

The concept of a global warming potential (GWP) was developed to compare the ability of each greenhouse gas to trap heat in the atmosphere relative to another gas. The definition of a GWP for a particular greenhouse gas is the ratio of heat trapped by one unit mass of the greenhouse gas to that of one unit mass of CO2 over a specified time period.

As part of its scientific assessments of climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) has published reference values for GWPs of several greenhouse gases. While the most current estimates for GWPs are listed in the IPCC's Third Assessment Report (TAR), EPA analyses use the 100-year GWPs listed in the IPCC's Second Assessment Report (SAR) to be consistent with the international standards under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (IPCC, 1996). According to the SAR, methane is 21 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere when compared to CO2 over a 100-year time period.

Reference Link:

http://www.epa.gov/outreach/scientific.html


Now, let's see what Wikipedia Claims About This:

Atmospheric methane

2011 methane concentration in the upper troposphere
Methane is created near the Earth's surface, primarily by microorganisms by the process of methanogenesis. It is carried into the stratosphere by rising air in the tropics. Uncontrolled build-up of methane in the atmosphere is naturally checked — although human influence can upset this natural regulation — by methane's reaction with hydroxyl radicals formed from singlet oxygen atoms and with water vapor. It has a net lifetime of about 10 years,[25] and is primarily removed by conversion to carbon dioxide and water

Methane also affects the degradation of the ozone layer.
In addition, there is a large (but unknown) amount of methane in methane clathrates in the ocean floors as well as the Earth's crust. Most methane is the result of biological process called methanogenesis.
In 2010, methane levels in the Arctic were measured at 1850 nmol/mol, a level over twice as high as at any time in the previous 400,000 years. Historically, methane concentrations in the world's atmosphere have ranged between 300 and 400 nmol/mol during glacial periods commonly known as ice ages, and between 600 to 700 nmol/mol during the warm interglacial periods. It has a high global warming potential: 72 times that of carbon dioxide over 20 years, and 25 times over 100 years,[28] and the levels are rising.

Methane in the Earth's atmosphere is an important greenhouse gas with a global warming potential of 25 compared to CO2 over a 100-year period (although accepted figures probably represents an underestimate[29]). This means that a methane emission will have 25 times the effect on temperature of a carbon dioxide emission of the same mass over the following 100 years. Methane has a large effect for a brief period (a net lifetime of 8.4 years in the atmosphere), whereas carbon dioxide has a small effect for a long period (over 100 years). Because of this difference in effect and time period, the global warming potential of methane over a 20 year time period is 72. The Earth's atmospheric methane concentration has increased by about 150% since 1750, and it accounts for 20% of the total radiative forcing from all of the long-lived and globally mixed greenhouse gases (these gases don't include water vapour which is by far the largest component of the greenhouse effect).[30] Usually, excess methane from landfills and other natural producers of methane is burned so CO2 is released into the atmosphere instead of methane, because methane is a more effective greenhouse gas. Recently, methane emitted from coal mines has been successfully utilized to generate electricity.

Reference Link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane

[dipsydoodle]

15. In the absense of the Permian–Triassic extinction event it doesn't follow we'd be here.

Researchers have variously suggested that there were from one to three distinct pulses, or phases, of extinction.[5][9][10][11] There are several proposed mechanisms for the extinctions; the earlier phase was likely due to gradual environmental change, while the latter phase has been argued to be due to a catastrophic event. Suggested mechanisms for the latter include large or multiple bolide impact events, increased volcanism, coal/gas fires and explosions from the Siberian Traps,[12] and sudden release of methane clathrate from the sea floor; gradual changes include sea-level change, anoxia, increasing aridity, and a shift in ocean circulation driven by climate change.[13]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian%E2%80%93Triassic_extinction_event

Maybe if there is a next time round we'll get it right.

Same subject in general from Tom :

[bemildred]

16. Yep, that's the one that worries me.

Methane: fine global warming gas by itself, converts to CO2 over a decade or so, sucking O2 from the atmosphere in the process, and untold brazillions of tons of it lying around in cold places, it's a recipe for a positive feedback loop, a recipe for extreme change.