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 ...
Not me!
Dumb question:
Won’t the wind disperse this ‘cloud’....or at least move it along?
What is so special about methane that it goes straight up in the air and never moves?
When you do that, turn to the person next to you and say out loud, “Look at me, they’ll think I did it”.
Too many cows farting at the same time.
The dog did it!
“Methane is considered to be twenty times more harmful a greenhouse gas than carbon-dioxide.”
“harmful” = a classic case of begging the question.
“20 times more harmful...”, which means it’s still far, far, less effective than water vapor, plumes of which I see almost every day.
Yep, it’s gone.
Spread the propaganda bull before Obama’s Global Warming Executive Orders
He who smelt it, dealt it.
Some guy in San Diego had too many burritos.
...a GIANT methane cloud over the U.S...
Can’t be seen by the naked eye, ONLY from space from GOVERNMENT equipment... yeah, right...
Caused by YOU and me!
Ooops! We’re going to have to take more control over your household conveniences and lifestyle... Oh, and a new TAX to “deal with this problem”
-it’s for our OWN good... Trust them, they’re the government.
The article doesn't say it, but the map that I posted (from NASA) is actually the average methane concentration above background, over 6-7 years of data.
It's not a "cloud". It's a plume that is being continuously replenished from the sources on the ground.
Can’t be; the largest methane cloud has to be over Washington, DC.
I wonder why there isn’t a monstrous cloud over the Permian Basin in West Texas?
What next...water?
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