Posted on 06/03/2004 6:27:32 AM PDT by presidio9
A vast belch of gas from beneath the North Atlantic 55 million years ago may have warmed the planet and hold clues to threats from an even faster modern surge in greenhouse gases, scientists said on Wednesday.
The apparent release of hydrocarbons from subsea rocks in the Eocene epoch might also bolster theories that spasms of volcanic activity could have triggered extinctions like the demise of the dinosaurs 10 million years before the Eocene.
In an article in the science journal Nature, Norwegian researchers said they had found traces of thousands of hydrothermal vents in lava off Norway that could have been the source of a rise in greenhouse gases 55 million years ago.
Until now, scientists have been at a loss to explain the trigger for a 5-10 Celsius (10-20F) global warming over about 10,000 years in the Eocene -- a blink in geological time.
"We think that magma heated sediments containing organic material and led to an explosive release of gases," said Henrik Svensen, a researcher at the University of Oslo and main author of the article.
"It's like burning a pizza and creating a lot of greenhouse gas in your stove," he told Reuters. Some of the craters were 10 km (six miles) across in the Voering and Moere basins in the North Atlantic off what is now Norway.
Some plants and animals, especially in the seas, were wiped out by the Eocene temperature spike. "But it's not one of the major global extinction events," he said.
The scientists said the annual rate of modern human emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere in the 1990s -- from fossil fuels burned in cars, factories and power plants -- was 35-360 times as fast as the pace of the Eocene gas buildup.
FASTER NOW
"We can cause the same amount of global warming ourselves in a few hundred years at current rates," Svensen said. Scientists say that gases linked to human activity could bring disaster with more storms, floods and higher sea levels.
The Eocene global warming theory outlined in Nature bolsters the idea that a buildup of gases can disrupt the climate, as forecast by U.N. models. A U.N. panel of scientists has predicted a 1.4-5.8 Celsius rise in temperatures by 2100.
Gerald Dickens of Rice University, Texas, wrote in Nature that the Eocene warming should be studied more as "an intriguing but imperfect analog of current fossil-fuel emissions."
During the Eocene, mammals strengthened their grip on the planet after the extinction of the dinosaurs. Creatures ranged from horse-like animals as small as dogs to a spiny relative of the hedgehog that apparently hopped like a rabbit.
Much of the gas released was apparently methane, a major component of natural gas and the second-biggest contributor to global warming behind carbon dioxide. The U.N.'s stalled 1997 Kyoto protocol seeks to limit emissions despite a U.S. pullout.
Svensen said the theory of Eocene warming might bolster the idea that volcanoes were responsible for past climate change and explain bigger extinctions like of the dinosaurs, now more commonly blamed on a giant meteorite strike.
Nature flagged its article "The day the Earth let rip" -- methane is an odorless component of burping or flatulence.
Now that's sure to get all of us here to take them seriously.
I watched a program on the Discovery Channel about submarine gas releases, focusing specifically on something called methane hydroxide deposits. They theorize that a submarine avalanche released an enormous quantity of these deposits from the sea floor at the end of the last Ice Age, significantly warming the Earth.
So.....what, the enviros have to ban undersea rocks now...?
Whale farts?
Algore said he would "let er rip" on his next campaign...
I caught the "Simpsons" episode of "Inside The Actor's Studio" last night (as opposed to the "Inside The Actor's Studio" episode of "The Simpsons"). It had all of the cast members answering questions live, both in character and out. If you are a fan of "The Simpsons," you will find this to be one of the most entertaining hours of televion you have seen in a while. Bravo usually repeats these shows several times, so look for it.
ping
So, it would follow that Michael Moore is not just a moron, but an environmental hazard!
At least they're not dragging out their moth-eaten computer models again to stress their point. It is becoming more widely known that these models produce the output that the programmers want from them and they can't even reproduce past climate conditions.
An equivalent would be a fortune-teller that is not only unable to predict the future, but also can't even tell you what happened yesterday. Had they been using them to predict the 1948 presidential election they would have picked Dewey and come up with a 'consensus' of 'scientists' to drive home the point.
LMAO, you beat me too it!
A vast belch of gas from beneath the North Atlantic 55 million years ago may have warmed the planet and hold clues to threats from an even faster modern surge in greenhouse gases, scientists said on Wednesday.
Hmmm, looks to me like temperatures were elevated long before 55 million years ago, and not very responsive to changes in CO2 concentrations(the greenhouse gas produced from burning of fossil fuels and targeted by Kyoto).
|
Global Surface Temperature and Atmospheric CO2 over Geologic Time
Late Carboniferous to Early Permian time (315 mya -- 270 mya) is the only time period in the last 600 million years when both atmospheric CO2 and temperatures were as low as they are today (Quaternary Period ). Temperature after C.R. Scotese
|
DC ping.
And weren't they a gas.
" "Beano" "
Next time I go camping I'm slipping my kid a Beano miki.
INTREP
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.
