- ‹ previous
- 685 of 1542
- next ›
Methane Leaking Into Arctic Ocean
The carbon pool beneath the Arctic Ocean is leaking. A study on the East Siberian Arctic Shelf found an increase in methane bubbles rising from chimneys on the seafloor in 2008. In fact more than 1,000 measurements registered the highest dissolved methane concentrations ever seen in the summer Arctic Ocean. Methane is a greenhouse gas 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
These new data from the International Arctic Research Center indicate the underwater permafrost is thawing in one of two (or both) ways. First, thawing permafrost initiates the decomposition of previously-frozen organic material, releasing methane and carbon dioxide. Second, ice-like methane hydrates trapped underneath the permafrost seep out when the permafrost thaws.
The East Siberian Arctic Shelf is a shallow continental shelf stretching 900 miles into the Arctic Ocean from Siberia. It's known to be a year-round source of methane to the globe's atmosphere. But until recently scientists believed that much of its carbon pool was safely insulated by underwater permafrost. Not anymore. Now the fuse is lit on the methane time bomb. . . . And we're still talking about drilling for new sources of oil? WTF? Listen up Barack Obama: The promised change has gotta be faster than the melting methane.
Julia Whitty is Mother Jones' environmental correspondent, lecturer, and 2008 winner of the PEN USA Literary Award, the Kiriyama Prize and the John Burroughs Medal.
Putin will save us by putting thousands of wells to pull out the excess natural gas and sell it to the gas deprived Europeans to stay warm in the bitterly cold winters.
I love these feedback cycles. As more methane gets ejected into the atmosphere adding to global warming, the excess heat causes the methane to seep into the atmosphere at an increased rate.
And what will Americans do about this? Nothing! Unless it hits them in the wallets.
If the next generation does not do better than the leaders of my "Not So GREAT GREED GRAB Generation" of elders has done to protect Earth from reckless environmental degradation and resource dissipation, then I cannot even imagine what the future will look like for those who are alive 40 years from now. The "blue marble" may not be so beautiful a place to inhabit in 2050, I fear.
Our children will do better; but first they will need to understand that the patently unsustainable overproduction, overconsumption and overpopulation activities which their elders so adamantly and relentlessly advocate will have to be forsaken......soon. Accepting human limits and Earth's limitations, and behaving accordingly, could be a goal worth achieving.
If I sound like a nut so be it, but don't wait for any further signs of what's to come. Head for the cooler latitudes (Tasmania for me) and takes as many intelligent books with you as you can. I'd hate for our species to get stuck in another dark age. Don't wait for your government nor your neighbour to change first. Now or never.
Good luck.
And what are YOU doing about it Jay? And why do just AMERICANS have to do something about it Jay?
Here in southern Canada (IE Minnesota), we are having our second very cold winter, I think due to La Nina. The 10 before that were very warm. I have also heard that the ice is freezing faster and thicker up in the Arctic north this year.
So why would methane be increasing this winter (or even last winter)? Global warming certainly exists, but there are small counter cycles sometimes.
Besides methane being 20 times more potent than CO2 as a contributor to global warming, isn't it also flamable? Won't it eventually ignite?
This is good news. We can capture this Methane and use it to heat our homes and power our factories instead of coal. Boris is right. Drill baby drill.
Elydog,
It's been colder here in MN, unfortunately, that does not translate into more arctic ice. There must be some Right Wing Talking Points about arctic ice going around, as I've seen that same, unfortunately wrong, point posted at several environmental blogs lately. The current ice status is almost exactly where it was during the beginning of the record ice low in the summer of 2007. Here's a link: http://nsidc.org
Click on arctic sea ice news and analysis, lower right corner of the page.