'Fountains' of methane 1,000m across erupt from Arctic ice

Daily mail ^ | 12.13.2011 | n/a

[wolfcreek]

The Russian research vessel Academician Lavrentiev conducted a survey of 10,000 square miles of sea off the coast of eastern Siberia. They made a terrifying discovery - huge plumes of methane bubbles rising to the surface from the seabed. 'We found more than 100 fountains, some more than a kilometre across,' said Dr Igor Semiletov, 'These are methane fields on a scale not seen before. The emissions went directly into the atmosphere.'

[preacher]

"Methinks those vast underground resevoirs of methane are what keeps producing petroleum, (oil is not "fossile-fuel")."

Oil not a Fossil-Fuel?

[thackney]

Methinks those vast underground resevoirs of methane are what keeps producing petroleum

Just the opposite. When crude oil is exposed to heat and pressure, it continues to break down into smaller molecules including down to methane. The oldest, thermally mature oil fields have a higher percentage of natural gas.

In refineries, we do the same thing. We use heat and pressure to breakdown heavier petroleum molecules into smaller, lighter ones.

[taterjay]

Just because it has not been seen does not mean it has not happened. I am sure we have all sorts of monitors and detectors now to tell us what is happening out there.

[SMARTY]

Oh...well then why not capture the methane? Or is that not practical?

[WKUHilltopper]

Isn’t the same process some have suspected of being the mystery of the “Bermuda Triangle”? Methane gas released and mysteriously sinking ships and downing planes?

[Dusty Road]

In the powder coating business it's called fluidizing, The powder sits above a porous membrane, at this point you can lay a brick on it and it's like laying a brick on sand. Once the air is forced through the membrane it suspends or floats the powder to where it actually reacts similar to water and the brick will immediately fall to the bottom. This would have the same effect with water, once it get to the point of fluidizing it can longer support the ship. Not the best definition but it's the only one I have.

[Wizdum]

Earth: “Here, pull my finger.”

[Flavius]

There is Bermuda triangle setup... Buoyancy must be a doozy

[SERKIT]

Drill now! Save the planet! Create jobs! Drop fuel prices. Go for it!!!!!!!

[boomop1]

The plot thickens, let the truth be know farting whales not man made.

[mewzilla]

Gov’t terrifies me. Methane fountains not so much :-)

[thackney]

In this location, it is scattered along the ocean floor trapped in a latice of ice.

Some of these larger releases are due to shifting along the ocean floor in the arctic, exposing previously buried hydrates.

There has been some success in drilling into these formation to produce the methane, but it is still new and the technology is being developed.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2436650/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2455581/posts

The potential for this source is very large, if it can be economically developed. The recent successes in the shale gas production have postponed most of the interest in methane hydrates for the time being.

[RichInOC]

Something big is down there…and it’s farting.

[G Larry]

And the earth continues to manage these fluctuations with a wave and a flutter, as temperatures ebb and flow, as they have for millennia....
irrespective of the activities of man.

[The Sons of Liberty]

Is this the REAL reason for the ozone hole, not my SUV?

[SunTzuWu]

Probably methane hydrates on the sea floor being disturbed. It's like snow on the ocean floor where the cold and pressure keep it locked in a “cage” of ice. Disturb it and the methane is released and then the one next to it and so forth.

[SunTzuWu]

I should have read all the responses first.

[almost done by half]

Is it any surprise Siberia smells like a big fart? :-)

[wolfcreek]

I don't believe there was a reference to AGW in the article.

The Earth goes through periods of warming and cooling, oceans rising and falling. This is obviously a warming period and the release of methane may be symptom.

[silverleaf]

Many

Methane venting suspected as cause of several past mass extinction events

http://thejacoblog.com/costa-rican-earthquake-releases-methane-bubbles/

We just watched the horrible SyFy movie “Ice Quake” last weekend, of course in this silly movie the methane earthquakes were blamed on global warming...

However, there is an element of scientific fact in the catastrophic potential effects of a massive methane release into the oceans or atmosphere (read up on theories of methane hydrate gasification as a cause or contributor to the Permian Triassic extinction (the Great Dying, Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum) and other mass extinction events possibly triggered by climate change)

Relatively local gas venting events in Africa in the vicinity of certain volcanic lakes have wiped out entire villages and all surrounding life and may pose future threat to millions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/26/africa-lake-kivu-co2-gas