This graph tells the story, if you know how to read it:
It completely blows apart the hysteria over methane.
Posted on 12/31/2014 2:47:37 PM PST by smokingfrog
Scientists are beginning to question the ramifications of a giant Delaware-sized methane hot spot high up in the air. The “giant plume” is the largest collection of greenhouse gas in the air above the U.S. and is likely the result of natural gas leaks.
It’s located over a stretch of desert in Southeast New Mexico, and NASA scientists have studied the methane cloud as a potent climate changer for the past three years.
When it first appeared, scientists questioned its existence.
“We couldn’t be sure that the signal was real,” NASA researcher Christian Frankenberg told the Washington Post.
But NASA teams and University of Michigan scientists verified the methane “hot spot” in October. The study’s lead author Eric Kort says it’s unlikely that the methane emissions were caused by fracking alone, as the period in which scientists have studied the cloud predates “the widespread use of hydraulic fracturing.” Kort says the methane emissions are likely due instead to leaks in natural gas extraction and processing equipment in New Mexico's San Juan Basin.
"The results are indicative that emissions from established fossil fuel harvesting techniques are greater than inventoried," Kort said. "There's been so much attention on high-volume hydraulic fracturing, but we need to consider the industry as a whole."
Although not detectable by the naked eye, the cloud is visible from outer space. NASA scientists estimate the plume has reached over 2,500 square miles in the past decade.
It’s only the latest episode of documented massive gas leaks, and infrared cameras are currently being used to detect the natural gas surfacing from wells and compressors across the country.
Methane is considered to be twenty times more harmful a greenhouse gas than carbon-dioxide.
(Excerpt) Read more at us.sputniknews.com ...
Well a few more years of study and they will find the climate changing.
there is still a hole in the ozone layer over Bloomfield from the 70's hairspray.
Hey, pull my finger
This is really odd. My older brother lives in Georgia. That is where I’d expect a methane hot spot to occur. He is a champion of champions.
Best for ya this New Year!
Can you say carbon tax?
There are nights, when I could give them a run for the money. I think it is the beer, but could be the legumes.....
Vegans - nothing generates more gas than a poor system with nothing but vegetable matter to digest; not even beer drinkers...
The map shows the variance from the average background concentration. So, some areas will be lower than the background.
Here's another good article that compares the methane concentration map to an aerial Google map image:
Unlike every other article I found, it actually links to the study itself:
Four corners: The largest US methane anomaly viewed from space
But, it's behind a paywall. I was hoping to find the average background methane concentration, and I expect it is in the article. But, maybe someone else has access to the article and can tell us.
Woodstock was the first album I owned. Every song on the 3 album set is burned into my memory, including Country Joe’s bit. Whoopee! we’re all gonna die. Buncha drugged up hippies who just didn’t want to go to Vietnam.
Neither did we .... those that washed out of DLI did ... most didn’t come back ... It was pretty much a death sentence via roulette wheel - Plaiku small graves registration was doing 500 bodies a month alone then.
That explains john mccain or proves without a doubt that he is worlds biggest a hole, pushing it out in record amounts.
That explains john mccain or proves without a doubt that he is worlds biggest a hole, pushing it out in record amounts.
Methane is also flammable, and breaks down into far less than 20 times as much CO2, so why not bottle up as much methane as possible to get cheap gas for my new portable folding gas stove/grill?
I don’t suppose the environmentalists would allow us to build a vertical pipeline up to it, suck it all down and use it for fuel.
This is not a newly recognized problem; unintended gas releases from coal-bed methane production has been known since the 1980’s. I investigated and actually co-authored a paper that was presented to a professional society. Basically, this is the release scenario:
Coal-bed methane is trapped on coal particles under hydrostatic pressure. When the water is pumped out, the gas is released and can be captured with a gas well. (Previous to industrial drilling and extraction, many homeowners in the area had water wells completed in or with open casing passing through coal formations which is why gas accumulates in their well house and can explode if not properly vented.)
With the advent of large-scale drilling and extraction, and pumping of water to release the gas, multiple pathways were exposed that allowed gas to move to the surface outside the drilled well. One of those was explained above. Or the released gas may migrate into naturally occurring rock fractures in the coal beds and make its way along bedding planes and eventually to the surface through natural fractures.
Yet another pathway involves the presence of adjacent historic gas wells drilled much deeper than the shallow coal-gas wells. These wells were completed in the 1950-1960 time frame and many did not have cement opposite the coal formations or the cement may be degraded. When gas is released from the coal beds, it moves up along the outside of the older casing and can migrate into shallow water bearing aquifers. Gas well surface casing may prevent it from getting to the surface, but the cement surrounding these older casings may also be degraded allowing release to the atmosphere.
Several other avenues to the surface may work to release the methane. Once in the shallow aquifer, it may come to the surface through fractures, domestic water wells, or cathodic protection wells. The later are usually PVC-cased wells drilled to shallow water and contain an electrode to protect metal pipelines from external corrosion. These wells are usually open to the surface and provide a direct route for gas migration.
So the issue is not so simply addressed and I do not know whether the majority of the fugitive gas is from migration through natural fractures or from man-made pathways. In either case, removing the source(s) of the problem is not easy and short of shutting down the industry may not be possible. Of course, that is what the radical enviros want to do and they will grab on to whatever research may support their quest.
Thanks, Dave. This is a really good explanation that is free of the hyperbole in the original article.
This graph tells the story, if you know how to read it:
It completely blows apart the hysteria over methane.
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