Global warming could heat up with Artic gas release
Dec 13
posted by Michael Smith in
2012
| 0 Comments
Interesting new info on global warming speed up from the mainstream UK newspaper The Independent:
Shock as retreat of Arctic sea ice releases deadly greenhouse gas
"Dramatic and unprecedented plumes of methane - a greenhouse gas 20
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. ... [Previously-discovered vents] were only tens
of metres in diameter. This is the first time that we've found
continuous, powerful and impressive seeping structures, more than
1,000 metres in diameter."
(http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/shock-as-retreat-of-arctic-sea-ice-releases-deadly-greenhouse-gas-6276134.html)
The arctic contains 1.5 trillion tons of frozen carbon. As it warms,
much of this will be released as methane - 25 times as potent a
heat-trapping gas as CO2 over a 100 year time horizon, but 72 times as
potent over 20 years.
A study published last year in Science magazine warns that "[release]
to the atmosphere of only a small fraction of the methane held in East
Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) sediments could trigger abrupt climate
warming" and documents this in detail
(http://www.sciencemag.org/content/327/5970/1246.abstract). And the
normally quite reserved National Science Foundation said "Release of
even a fraction of the methane stored in the shelf could trigger
abrupt climate warming."
(http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=116532)
"Dramatic and unprecedented plumes of methane - a greenhouse gas 20
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. ... [Previously-discovered vents] were only tens
of metres in diameter. This is the first time that we've found
continuous, powerful and impressive seeping structures, more than
1,000 metres in diameter."
(http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/shock-as-retreat-of-arctic-sea-ice-releases-deadly-greenhouse-gas-6276134.html)
The arctic contains 1.5 trillion tons of frozen carbon. As it warms,
much of this will be released as methane - 25 times as potent a
heat-trapping gas as CO2 over a 100 year time horizon, but 72 times as
potent over 20 years.
A study published last year in Science magazine warns that "[release]
to the atmosphere of only a small fraction of the methane held in East
Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS) sediments could trigger abrupt climate
warming" and documents this in detail
(http://www.sciencemag.org/content/327/5970/1246.abstract). And the
normally quite reserved National Science Foundation said "Release of
even a fraction of the methane stored in the shelf could trigger
abrupt climate warming."
(http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=116532)
It is time for humans to work together in love. It is time to "Occupy Earth".
Thanks to Barry for alerting me to this info
