Posted on 04/22/2012 7:31:07 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
The Arctic Ocean could be a significant contributor of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, scientists reported on Sunday.
Researchers carried out five flights in 2009 and 2010 to measure atmospheric methane in latitudes as high as 82 degrees north.
They found concentrations of the gas close to the ocean surface, especially in areas where sea ice had cracked or broken up.
The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, wonders if this is a disturbing new mechanism that could accelerate global warming.
"We suggest that the surface waters of the Arctic Ocean represent a potentially important source of methane, which could prove sensitive to changes in sea-ice cover," it says.
If so, the Arctic Ocean would add to several identified "positive feedbacks" in Earth's climate system which ramp up the greenhouse effect.
One such vicious circle is the release of methane from Siberian and North American permafrost.
The thawing soil releases methane that has been locked up for millions of years, which adds to global warming -- which in turns frees more methane, and so on.
But this is the first evidence that points to a methane contribution from the ocean, not the land, in Arctic latitudes.
Levels of methane in the atmosphere are relatively low, but the gas is 20 times more effective that carbon dioxide (CO2) at trapping solar heat.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Ban Oceans!
plankton farts.
We’re all gonna die!
Perhaps we should go up there, collect the methane, put it into containers, bring it down here, and burn it. That would leave carbon dioxide, which is a lower greenhouse gas than methane. Just a thought.
So why aren’t the EPA and the UN responding to this? I bet Biden and Obama are deeply disturbed.
” The study, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, wonders if this is a disturbing new mechanism that could accelerate global warming. “
Only if you ignore the obvious cycle of tens of thousands of years where most of the earth is encased in ice punctuated by a relatively few thousand years where it thaws out.
see for example:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vostok_420ky_4curves_insolation.jpg
Yes we are and there is no escaping death.
Whale flatulence!
Drain it and blacktop over it. Sure, it’ll cost a lot but we’re talking about saving the earth. My Earth Day, aka, Mirth Day!
--H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920
They just can't accept it.
As an Earth Scientist, I am here to tell you that there is no known cause and effect between the concentrations of CO2, or CO in the atmosphere and the temperature change in the atmosphere.
The average concentrations of atmospheric CO2 are usually < 400 parts/million, or < 0.04 PERCENT. This extremely tiny amount of CO2 is the primary source for ALL of the Carbon for ALL of the life on Earth.
Thus, CO2 is an essential, environmentally FRIENDLY gas in low concentrations.
CH4 also supplies carbon to all life, and also has no known cause and effect on temperature change in the atmosphere, in low concentrations.
BTW, the greenhouse gas that has the largest atmospheric concentration, has been proven to have a VERY large effect on the the temperature of air, sea and land.
Many humans, throughout history, have met horrible deaths when exposed to high concentrations of the effects of this gas.
This gas is ubiquitous, as every square millimeter on the Earth has been exposed to it for millions of years.
It has be proven to also be essential for all known life on Earth.
The present concentration of this giant of green house gasses, is presently 2.5 % of the Earth’s atmosphere.
IOW, it is two orders of magnitude greater in atmospheric concentration than CO2. It is 25, 000 parts per million vs CO2’s < 400 parts per million.
Fortunately, no fear-mongering politician has yet to win an Oscar, or a Nobel Prize for trying to reduce the atmospheric concentration of this always problematic, but essential greenhouse gas.
Final clue: Santa Claus speaks the chemical formula of this gas in his famous laugh.
Maybe we should start fracking artic sea ice for methane.
So does rotting vegatative matter in the huge Amazone basin and in every marsh in the world.
Ban the Amazone.
Artic Ocean? Try DC!
Alright which automaker makes the Arctic Ocean? No bailouts for them!
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