Posted on 08/29/2012 6:47:54 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Microbes possibly feeding on the remains of an ancient forest may be generating billions of tons of methane deep beneath Antarctic ice, a new study suggests.
The amount of this greenhouse gas — which would exist in the form of a frozen latticelike substance called methane hydrate — lurking beneath the ice sheet rivals that stored in the world's oceans, the researchers said.
If the ice sheet collapses, the greenhouse gas could be released into the atmosphere and dramatically worsen global warming, researchers warn in a study published in the Aug. 30 issue of the journal Nature.
"There could be tons of methane hydrate beneath the Antarctic ice sheet," said study researcher Jemma Wadham of the University of Bristol’s School of Geographical Sciences. "If you start to thin that ice cover, that hydrate starts to become unstable and turns into gas, and that gas can go into the atmosphere."[Earth in the Balance: 7 Crucial Tipping Points]
Microbes produce methane
Microbes that thrive in extreme environments often create methane as a byproduct of their metabolism; the breakdown of organic carbon under no-oxygen conditions creates methane.
"It's a way of microbes getting energy under really, really oxygen-deprived conditions," Wadham told LiveScience.
The team suspected that icy, silt-laden sediments trapped beneath the continental glacier could house such extremophiles. That’s because the sediments, possible relics of an ancient Antarctic forest and ocean, could provide a carbon-rich food source for methane producers. But drilling up to 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) through the ice to find out was extremely expensive and difficult.
Instead, Wadham and her colleagues sawed chunks of sediment from the fringes of an Antarctic glacier, where the ice was much thinner. They melted the ice and identified the methane-producing microbes living in the sediment.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“If the ice sheet collapses, the greenhouse gas could be released into the atmosphere and dramatically worsen global warming, researchers warn in a study published in the Aug. 30 issue of the journal Nature.”
Translation: Give Us Government Grant Money, Baby!!!
actually, they only lasted about 3 days before they were robbing from and raping each other while srceaming for handouts from the 1%
Ummm.... If the ice sheet collapses..... It will FLOAT!
The article doesn’t mention that billions of tons of methane hydrate coat the sea floor on continental shelfs all around the world. Not just in Antarctica.
Could probably power a lot of cars for a long time. We should start mining the stuff.
I for one would like to hear what these oxygen-deprived lurkers have to say. Or I can just stop by the local Coffee Party meeting, I guess.
“Billions of Tons of Methane Lurk Beneath.....”
That’s how I feel in church on Sunday morning after Mexican food on Saturday night.
;^)
Obama and the EPA could care less what you think. They are shutting down coal plants left and right for what amounts to an idiot's science. Your electric rates are going to necessarily skyrocket.
Obama doesn't care when you get cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Same for your children and grandchildren.
we are going to die. . . lol
They are wrong.
All the earth’s excess methane is in my dog.
We difinitely need to start burning that stuff to power our toys and AC.
For the good of Gia and all.
Don't forget, we also have to develop electric cars, quit driving SUVs, stop burning any fossil fuels, and learn how not to freeze without wearing fur. The only approved fuels will be refined from our food supply. Forget about AC in the summer and brace for malaria epidemics because we can't use any pesticides.
In a lengthy paper, Cussler has clearly shown this not to be true.
I wonder how long it took for an antarctic environment suitable for trees to grow, to have them cover the area in forest? It must have been warm then.
QUICK! We MUST hire ice researchers to study this danger! The Government must provide $70,000 grants to as many experts forecasting this danger as possible! Otherwise we are DOOMED!
abiogenic hydrocarbons
If the Deadites gain control of the Necronomicon Ex Mortis mankind faces the greatest evil, uh, faces some really bad stuff and a bunch of other words I just can't remember. Dammit.
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