13 replies to this topic

[E3 wise]

Reported by Steve Connor December 13, 2011 for the Independent

  Dramatic and unprecedented plumes of methane - a greenhouse gas 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide - have been seen bubbling to the surface of the Arctic Ocean by scientists undertaking an extensive survey of the region.

  The scale and volume of the methane release has astonished the head of the Russian research team who has been surveying the seabed of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf off northern Russia for nearly 20 years.

  In an exclusive interview with The Independent, Igor Semiletov of the International Arctic Research Centre at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, who led the 8th joint US-Russia cruise of the East Siberian Arctic seas, said that he has never before witnessed the scale and force of the methane being released from beneath the Arctic seabed.

  "Earlier we found torch-like structures like this but they were only tens of meters in diameter. This is the first time that we've found continuous, powerful and impressive seeping structures more than 1,000 meters in diameter. It's amazing," Dr Semiletov said.

"I was most impressed by the sheer scale and the high density of the plumes.  Over a relatively small area we found more than 100, but over a wider area there should be thousands of them," he said.

  Scientists estimate that there are hundreds of millions of tons of methane gas locked away beneath the Arctic permafrost, which extends from the mainland into the seabed of the relatively shallow sea of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf.

  One of the greatest fears is that with the disappearance of the Arctic sea ice in summer, and rapidly rising temperatures across the entire Arctic region, which are already melting the Siberian permafrost, the trapped methane could be suddenly released into the atmosphere leading to rapid and severe climate change.

   Dr Semiletov's team published a study in 2010 estimating that the methane emissions from this region were in the region of 8 million tons a year but the latest expedition suggests this is a significant underestimate of the true scale of the phenomenon.

  In late summer, the Russian research vessel Academician Lavrentiev conducted an extensive survey of about 10,000 square miles of sea off the East Siberian coast, in cooperating with the University of Georgia Athens. Scientists deployed four highly sensitive instruments, both seismic and acoustic, to monitor the "fountains" or plumes of methane bubbles rising to the sea surface from beneath the seabed.

  "In a very small area, less than 10,000 square miles, we have counted more than 100 fountains, or torch-like structures, bubbling through the water column and injected directly into the atmosphere from the seabed," Dr Semiletov said.

  "We carried out checks at about 115 stationary points and discovered methane fields of a fantastic scale - I think on a scale not seen before. Some of the plumes were a kilometer or more wide and the emissions went directly into the atmosphere - the concentration was a hundred times higher than normal," he said.

  Dr Semiletov released his findings for the first time last week at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. He is now preparing the study for publication in a scientific journal.
  The total amount of methane stored beneath the Arctic is calculated to be greater than the overall quantity of carbon locked up in global coal reserves so there is intense interest in the stability of these deposits as the polar region warms at a faster rate than other places on earth.

  Natalia Shakhova, a colleague at the International Arctic Research Centre at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said that the Arctic is becoming a major source of atmospheric methane and the concentrations of the powerful greenhouse gas have risen dramatically since pre-industrial times, largely due to agriculture.

   However, with the melting of Arctic sea ice and permafrost, the huge stores of methane that have been locked away underground for many thousands of years might be released over a relatively short period of time, Dr Shakhova said.

  "I am concerned about this process, I am really concerned. But no-one can tell the timescale of catastrophic releases. There is a probability of future massive releases might occur within the decadal scale, but to be more accurate about how high that probability is, we just don't know," Dr Shakova said.

  "Methane released from the Arctic shelf deposits contributes to global increase and the best evidence for that is the higher concentration of atmospheric methane above the Arctic Ocean," she said.

  "The concentration of atmospheric methane increased unto three times in the past two centuries from 0.7 parts per million to 1.7ppm, and in the Arctic to 1.9ppm. That's a huge increase, between two and three times, and this has never happened in the history of the planet," she added.

  Each methane molecule is about 70 times more potent in terms of trapping heat than a molecule of carbon dioxide. However, because methane it broken down more rapidly in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, scientist calculate that methane is about 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a hundred-year cycle.

[mariaandrea]

So, basically, it's like a big earthquake hitting here in Seattle. It could be tomorrow or 50 years from now. We know it will happen, we just don't know when. A catastrophic release of methane could happen tomorrow or 50 years from now but we don't know. It does sound, however, like it's going to happen at some point. How can this not spur governments into action? Even if we can't stop it, we can take steps to mitigate the impact around the globe.

I know. We won't.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

See also-
http://www.altenergy...ch__1#entry5225

[Hydrotopia]

Looks like a slow motion disaster (as in environmental Armageddon).


   Hmm, how can we fine-tune the EPA to that???

[tri-n-b-helpful]

Yes, I've seen hundreds of reports on this very thing since shortly after the year 2000. Every degree rise brings us closer to a massive methane gas release. At least our death will be a quick and painless one! The earth may end up looking like Venus, some say. The report by Gregory Ryskin shows how this exact same thing caused the dinosaurs to die out. Scientists are now saying that nitrous oxides (300 times the heat-trapping capacity of carbon dioxide) are also a major contributor and that the largest sources by far of these and other deadly greenhouse gases are from animal agriculture. NASA once believed such an occurrence could happen by the end of 2012 or the start of 2013 and would wipe out all human, animal and plant life.

The solution lies in cooling the earth a little, but quickly, to keep the methane and the permafrost exactly where it is. The United Nations FAO arm, the ICCP, some NASA scientists and many others have presented governments all over the world with their solution to the crisis, but not one of them has listened.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Imo, the planet will come back and not turn into Venus, once we're gone. It will takes hundreds of years for
the remaining plants and trees to filter out the pollution, but this rock will keep rolling.
At least until the black hole out there swallows us................

[Shortpoet-GTD]

"Methane has been sneaking its way into the atmosphere more rapidly than scientists previously thought;
especially in areas of the Arctic Ocean where there is unstable permafrost.
An international research team conducted a survey of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, between 2003 and 2008.
This shelf spans across more than 772,200 square miles (2 million sq km) of the Arctic Ocean’s seafloor.
The study shows that the permafrost actually submerged on the shelf and is punctured with a number of holes, allowing the methane to seep into the atmosphere.

Another thing that makes this a big deal is methane is actually 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
They discovered that over 80% of the deep water and more than 50% of the surface water contained methane levels
that were 8 times greater than those found in regular seawater.
Right now, the methane concentrations found in the Arctic average around 1.85 ppm.
According to study leader, Natalia Shakhova, that’s the highest it’s been in 400,000 years."

http://www.greenfudg...ampaign=related

[tri-n-b-helpful]

So, what do you believe is causing global temperatures to rise and then release the methane? What do you believe is the best way to stop this runaway methane-caused global warming?

[still learning]

Shortpoet-GTD, on 16 February 2012 - 03:54 AM, said:

"Methane....
http://www.greenfudg...ampaign=related

Doesn't actually matter much, but it's worth noting that the greenfudge article is nearly two years old.
The Science article that it is derived from is abstracted here http://www.sciencema...19-013a9d18ada7

(this got discussed at treehugger forum some time ago, as I recall)

[still learning]

tri-n-b-helpful, on 16 February 2012 - 01:43 PM, said:

So, what do you believe is causing global temperatures to rise and then release the methane? What do you believe is the best way to stop this runaway methane-caused global warming?

Umm....
What's causing global warming?

Fossil fuel burning.  Mostly.  CO2 accumulating in the atmosphere because of that.  Atmospheric "greenhouse" effect increasing.
Other human caused greenhouse gas emissions too, including methane also increasing greenhouse effect.

Slow down methane release from under the Arctic ocean?  The only way that comes to mind is to slow down fossil fuel  burning, slow down other greenhouse gas emissions too.  

One thing, near as I can tell, nobody is yet claiming that these observed methane releases in the Arctic Ocean are increasing.  They do say that they haven't been observed before, but I'm unclear whether it's because they are looking harder or because there is an actual increase.

Eventually, continued global warming will definitely increase undersea methane releases, but I don't know if the Arctic Ocean has warmed enough yet to cause an increase.  As long as there is still ice on the surface of the water the water temperature shouldn't go up.  The ice has been melting though, less and less summer sea ice as the years go by.  Eventually the water will warm.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

tri-n-b-helpful, on 16 February 2012 - 01:43 PM, said:

So, what do you believe is causing global temperatures to rise and then release the methane? What do you believe is the best way to stop this runaway methane-caused global warming?

Others may argue the point, but imo, it's coal. 2nd cars. 3rd cattle.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

tri-n-b-helpful, on 16 February 2012 - 01:43 PM, said:

So, what do you believe is causing global temperatures to rise and then release the methane? What do you believe is the best way to stop this runaway methane-caused global warming?

Others may argue the point, but imo, it's coal. 2nd cars. 3rd cattle.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

tri-n-b-helpful, on 16 February 2012 - 01:43 PM, said:

So, what do you believe is causing global temperatures to rise and then release the methane? What do you believe is the best way to stop this runaway methane-caused global warming?

Others may argue the point, but imo, it's coal. 2nd cars. 3rd cattle.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

tri-n-b-helpful, on 16 February 2012 - 01:43 PM, said:

So, what do you believe is causing global temperatures to rise and then release the methane? What do you believe is the best way to stop this runaway methane-caused global warming?

Others may argue the point, but imo, it's coal. 2nd cars. 3rd cattle.