Passing gas (or Arctic methane plumes)

By Dave Anderson:

Last year, BJ noted that Artic methane emissions were dramatically increasing as permafrost and tundra are melting. The melting process frees up the gas to seep into the atmosphere. At that point, a mole of methane is more than twenty times as efficient as a mole of carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere. Methane makes carbon dioxide look like a piker for global warming purposes.

�The permafrost now has small holes. We have found elevated levels of methane above the water surface and even more in the water just below. It is obvious that the source is the seabed,� Oerjan Gustafsson, the Swedish leader of the International Siberian Shelf Study, told the newspaper.

The tests were carried out in the Laptev and east Siberian seas and used much more precise measuring equipment than previous studies, he said.

Methane is more than 20 times more efficient than carbon dioxide in trapping solar heat.

Scientists fear that global warming may cause Siberia�s permafrost to thaw and thereby release vast amounts of methane into the atmosphere. The effects of global warming are already most visible in the Arctic region.

The BBC earlier this month reported that studies are showing that warming northern oceans are creating methane plumes. The methane being released from its previously frozen hydrate state is not yet reaching the atmosphere, but it is contributing to significant acidification of the ocean. That leads to the oceans being less capable of serving as an incremental carbon sink while still supporting complex sea life.

Researchers say this could be evidence of a predicted positive feedback effect of climate change.

As temperatures rise, the sea-bed grows warmer and frozen water crystals in the sediment break down, allowing methane trapped inside them to escape.

The research team found that more than 250 plumes of methane bubbles are rising from the sea-bed off Norway....

The gas is normally trapped as "methane hydrate" in sediment under the ocean floor.

Positive feedback loops are an absolute bitch. These loops cause the best climatic models to consistently skew positive in their projections compared to reality. The fat tail consequences of unconstrained global warming are becoming more likely as reality sets in. But hey, we had to buy off a couple of farm state Representatives, and there is minimal chance of actually doing anything in the Senate as the combination of coal-state Democrats and road-block Republicans will make sure that we can not even talk about long-run problems with high costs.