The seafloor off the coast of Northern Siberia is releasing more than twice the amount of methane as previously estimated, according to new research results published in the Nov. 24 edition of the journal Nature Geoscience.
The East Siberian Arctic Shelf is venting at least 17 teragrams of the methane into the atmosphere each year. A teragram is equal to 1 million tons.
“It is now on par with the methane being released from the arctic tundra, which is considered to be one of the major sources of methane in the Northern Hemisphere,” said Natalia Shakhova, one of the paper’s lead authors and a scientist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. “Increased methane releases in this area are a possible new climate-change-driven factor that will strengthen over time.”
Methane is a greenhouse gas more than 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide. On land, methane is released when previously frozen organic material decomposes. In the seabed, methane can be stored as a pre-formed gas or asmethane hydrates. As long as the subsea permafrost remains frozen, it forms a cap, effectively trapping the methane beneath. However, as the permafrost thaws, it develops holes, which allow the methane to escape. These releases can be larger and more abrupt than those that result from decomposition.
What does this mean to YOU?
Ten Billion people mowing their lawns with gasoline powered lawnmowers every weekend (and the Earth’s population is 1/3 that number) would produce .01% of the greenhouse gas coming from the ocean floor off the coast of Siberia.
Yeah, but when you add in cattle flatulence…
. . . and the flatulence of those of us over 60 . . . .
I'm surprised that the planet survived that.
Man-caused weather incidents… Now we know why the big tornadoes hit trailer parks.
Let's capture some of that so we have plenty of fuel to cook us up some of them liberals.
No mention of growing polar ice sheets? The researchers' flatulence must have gone to their heads.
More beans — we need to eat more beans to keep those polar ice sheets melted and to vindicate "progressives".
That sounds like a worthy science project.
Lately I've read here blog.pulawy.com/en/global-problems-with-water-supply/ we have been observing significant changes of global weather conditions, resulting from global warming e.g. dry regions are getting even less water, while places where plentiful rainfall had been common are now getting even more water. Do you really think this methane could be the cause of global warming? Is something what can we do to prevent it?
David, when you chop down an old tree and read the rings, there were wet and dry/hot and cold years back as far as there were trees (and before). Methane is a greenhouse gas. Research coal seam fires – putting out many tens of millions of tons of CO2 every year. And then along comes a volcano somewhere and we experience "global cooling".
I don't deny that mankind impact global weather — but the extent to which it matters hasn't been determined with any degree of predictability.
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