Breaking: Bubbling ... the news isn't good [View all]

[FourScore]

Mon Dec 12, 2011 at 07:02 PM PST
Breaking: Bubbling ... the news isn't good
by A Siegel

...In the backdrop of our lives, the atmospheric carbon dioxide count keeps mounting higher. While a level of 350 ppm might represent safety for human civilization, we are closing on 400 with little hope of keeping below 450 ppm (and likely to keep moving beyon that). We are already seeing climate catastrophe with mounting climate chaos (from droughts in Texas to floods in Durban around climate talks to ...) causing damage and, yes, killing people.

One of the great concerns has been a basic question: at what point does the situation move beyond humanity's ability to control. When do we reach the point where 'positive feedbacks' (no, positive is not a good thing) create out-of-control runaway conditions that will push catastrophic climate chaos into a death spiral for species after species ... potentially even humanity.

One of the greatest concerns: methane burps (and Arctic methane release -- including permafrost melting). That methane hydrates, methane capture at low temperatures and under pressure in the ocean, will start to release in massive amounts that will lead to runaway conditions. Methane, as a reminder, is roughly 25 times as serious a greenhouse gas per molecule than carbon dioxide.

The news ... Russian scientists have reported massive size methane bubbling in areas of Arctic ice retreat, far before anything ever recorded before:

"Earlier we found torch-like structures like this but they 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. It's amazing," Dr Semiletov said. "I was most impressed by the sheer scale and 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."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/12/12/1044726/-Breaking:-Bubbling--the-news-isnt-good?via=siderec