Climate trouble may be bubbling up in far north (methane from the permafrost and seabed)

AP on Yahoo ^ | 8/30/09 | Charles J. Hanley - ap

[NormsRevenge]

MACKENZIE RIVER DELTA, Northwest Territories – Only a squawk from a sandhill crane broke the Arctic silence — and a low gurgle of bubbles, a watery whisper of trouble repeated in countless spots around the polar world.

"On a calm day, you can see 20 or more `seeps' out across this lake," said Canadian researcher Rob Bowen, sidling his small rubber boat up beside one of them. A tossed match would have set it ablaze.

"It's essentially pure methane."

Pure methane, gas bubbling up from underwater vents, escaping into northern skies, adds to the global-warming gases accumulating in the atmosphere. And pure methane escaping in the massive amounts known to be locked in the Arctic permafrost and seabed would spell a climate catastrophe.

[SuziQ]

"If we lost just 1 percent of the carbon in permafrost today, we'd be close to a year's contributions from industrial sources," he said. "I don't think policymakers have woken up to this. It's not in their risk assessments."

An interesting statement, because he seems to be admitting that the 'contribution' by humans to the greenhouses gases in the atmostphere is miniscule, compared to natural sources. And just what the heck are the 'policymakers' supposed to do about those natural sources?

[richardtavor]

Forget about that—stick a pipe in it and sell it...didn’t even have to drill for it —woo hoo!

[GOPJ]

And still - we are here - how can it be? How can it be?

[Right Wing Assault]

Drill to relieve the pressure causing the leaks. Then pipe it south to heat my house in the winter. If it’s going to escape anyway, why waste it?

Humanity dies from freezing to death. A liberal dem says to God, why didn’t you save us? God says I didn’t think you believed in me. The guy says he does now. God says I put a bunch of oil and gas under the land and you didn’t drill. And I put it under the seas and you didn’t drill. I made it leak out into the ocean so you could sea the bubbles and still you didn’t get the message. And so, you froze to death.

(A variation of the story of the guy who drowned in a flood.)

[SpeedRacer]

I may be wrong here but I thought methane easily and quickly dispersed in the atmosphere.

Correct! Methane is lighter than air (mostly Nitrogen, some Oxygen) and will rise quickly. It will also disperse quickly and reach a dilution level below flammability limits (it won't burn).

[Old Professer]

Prior to 2007 exploration of the tundra along the Arctic line was an activity reserved for the brief summer months only — due to the difficulty of land travel and the consensus understanding that it was far too cold to measure significant emissions when the hard freeze set back in; also coincident with the loss of the majority of the reporting stations after the fall of the USSR, satellite sensors came on line that allowed year-round remote observations of a number of geophysical phenomena among which was emissions of natural methane.

Rather than a general admission of surprise of heretofore unexpected levels of winter emissions when the new results were analyzed, the spin doctors went into hyperdrive and declared that global warming has passed a tipping point where none had before ever been recorded to where now this revelation was an ominous indication of how fast it had become and how short the redemption period was becoming; truly, the end is near.

Saner voices are suggesting that the permafrost was never permanent in the sense that it somehow remained (remains?) impermeable but it merely poses an impediment to another in a long line of journeys in search of the truth.

Somewhere along the way, the tongue of truth seems to have gotten caught up in the tread of the trudging juggernaut of climate change and we can’t seem to understand a word we hear.

[Old Professer]

Since its mole weight is nearly the same as air itself it immediately goes into flux except in areas of entrainment; yet it is a GHG gas with a GHG potential of +40XCO2 which — ‘amplifies’ it.

[Poincare]

Methane oxidizes in the atmosphere even when dilute—it has a half-life that correlates to temperature and light. It doesn’t hang around long.

[Old Professer]

My last post got all messed up as it got mixed up with CO somehow.

[Bhoy]

Nicely said.

[PIF]

Tough.

[PIF]

In the works, no doubt.

[TangoLimaSierra]

Since its mole weight is nearly the same as air itself it immediately goes into flux except in areas of entrainment; yet it is a GHG gas with a GHG potential of +40XCO2 which — ‘amplifies’ it.

Thanks for the reply but I have no idea what you said.

[Mogollon]

MacKensie river delta may be a great place to drill for natural gas. That way we can use it to fuel our power plants.