Posted on 05/20/2012 10:31:04 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
Scientists have identified thousands of sites in the Arctic where methane that has been stored for many millennia is bubbling into the atmosphere.
The methane has been trapped by ice, but is able to escape as the ice melts.
Writing in the journal Nature Geoscience, the researchers say this ancient gas could have a significant impact on climate change.
Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after CO2 and levels are rising after a few years of stability.
There are many sources of the gas around the world, some natural and some man-made, such as landfill waste disposal sites and farm animals.
Tracking methane to these various sources is not easy.
But the researchers on the new Arctic project, led by Katey Walter Anthony from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks (UAF), were able to identify long-stored gas by the ratio of different isotopes of carbon in the methane molecules.
Using aerial and ground-based surveys, the team identified about 150,000 methane seeps in Alaska and Greenland in lakes along the margins of ice cover.
Local sampling showed that some of these are releasing the ancient methane, perhaps from natural gas or coal deposits underneath the lakes, whereas others are emitting much younger gas, presumably formed through decay of plant material in the lakes.
"We observed most of these cryosphere-cap seeps in lakes along the boundaries of permafrost thaw and in moraines and fjords of retreating glaciers," they write, emphasising the point that warming in the Arctic is releasing this long-stored carbon.
"If this relationship holds true for other regions where sedimentary basins are at present capped by permafrost, glaciers and ice sheets, such as northern West Siberia, rich in natural gas and partially underlain by thin permafrost predicted to degrade substantially by 2100, ..
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
So thousands of years ago this methane was trapped in the ice.
Now it is being released. Where did it come from so may years ago?
It certainly couldn’t have been because Fred flintstone was diring his diesel powered truck.
The only thing this proves is that the earth is in a new cycle and that anthropologic Global warming is Horse Shyt. Pun intended.
Well, this changes things. I was going to go buy a new oven this afternoon, since ours went on the fritz, but clearly I won’t be needing one by, say, the end of the month, so phooey on that. I’ll just wait for Algore to cook my goose.
What’s that? Goose my cook?
Sorry, never mind.
Seems to me that we should use it as an energy source, rather than hand wringing about it.
Not a chance. Doesn't fit the desired narrative.
"Old" methane being released is nothing new.
In fact, methane hydrate suddenly breaking off the ocean floor and gasifying on its way to the surface has been postulated as a cause for the unexplained disappearance of ships via swamping and sinking.
Methane in the upper atmosphere decomposes into CO2 and water vapor.
Seems to me that we should use it as an energy source, rather than hand wringing about it.”
Your suggestion makes way too much sense and is, therefore, not worthy of further exploration as those in charge have already made up their mind about the path we will follow.
Ewwww
Ancient Methane? Wasn’t there a report recently about ancient Methone? These ancient Greek cities are hard to keep straight. There’s another Methone in SW Greece near Pylos, besides the one in Macedonia, and there’s a Methana near Epidaurus, but I don’t know where Methane is.
(Happy 80th dad!)
Which came first?
Increasing temperatures melt ice to release trapped “old Methane” which increases the greenhouse gasses or increased greenhouse gasses cause temperatures to rise.
Wasn’t this supposed to be the “tipping point” of the doomsday scenario? Where’s the two-meter sea rise?
It’s these so called scientists who are releasing alot more than methane.
Why isn’t this posted in religion?
Any article that calls CO2 the most important greenhouse gas is purely religion and has nothing to do with science.
Frozen farts?
scented ice?
We must stop global warming to preserve these endangered methane popsicles.
We must apply for a grant or ten.
I would say, because of decomposing matter deep within the earth rising causes methane and increased temperature.
Since wasting matter varies in amounts, it causes the earth to cool down or warm up depending on the amount of methane released by shear force, not warming. Sort of like volcanos only in smaller amounts and spread over large areas.
The earth needs to fart, just like the rest of us!
That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it. %%%>)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
