Methane bubbles in Arctic seas stir warming fears

Yahoo news ^ | 03-04-2010 | Alister Doyle

[em2vn]

Large amounts of a powerful greenhouse gas are bubbling up from a long-frozen seabed north of Siberia, raising fears of far bigger leaks that could stoke global warming, scientists said.

It was unclear, however, if the Arctic emissions of methane gas were new or had been going on unnoticed for centuries -- since before the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century led to wide use of fossil fuels that are blamed for climate change.

The study said about 8 million tonnes of methane a year, equivalent to the annual total previously estimated from all of the world's oceans, were seeping from vast stores long trapped under permafrost below the seabed north of Russia.

[RichInOC]

Something’s down there...and it’s farting.

[Judith Anne]

There’s an active volcano chain up there. Can’t remember the name of it. Probably why the ice is melting. I mean, heat rises. Come on.

[Pollster1]

Passenger Ships Stuck in Ice Off Sweden

I'd be a little more worried if the scientists had not engaged in systematic fraud, and if the facts on the ground (in this case, several inches of snow that still hasn't melted - and the unusually thick ice in the Arctic) didn't call this into question.

[marstegreg]

You are right. I saw a special several years ago disclosing what has really been the cause of all the downed planes in the Bermuda triangle. Apparently was Methane. There are large bubbles that surface in that area, and (if I remember correctly) this causes the engines to stall, among other things. I remember that they even tested the effects on ships, and if the bubble is big enough it can break a ship in half. If this is the case, it has been going on for hundreds of years.

[Venturer]

Anthropogenic my Aunt’s Patoot.

What fool thinks there is anything we can do about it?

[ETL]

THE ACQUITTAL OF CARBON DIOXIDE
by Jeffrey A. Glassman, PhD

ABSTRACT:

"Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere [historically] is the product of oceanic respiration due to the well-known but under-appreciated solubility pump. Carbon dioxide rises out of warm ocean waters where it is added to the atmosphere. There it is mixed with residual and accidental CO2, and circulated, to be absorbed into the sink of the cold ocean waters. Next the thermohaline circulation carries the CO2-rich sea water deep into the ocean. A millennium later it appears at the surface in warm waters, saturated by lower pressure and higher temperature, to be exhausted back into the atmosphere. Throughout the past 420 millennia, comprising four interglacial periods, the Vostok record of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is imprinted with, and fully characterized by, the physics of the solubility of CO2 in water, along with the lag in the deep ocean circulation.

Notwithstanding that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, atmospheric carbon dioxide has neither caused nor amplified global temperature increases. Increased carbon dioxide has been an effect of global warming, not a cause [historically -etl]. Technically, carbon dioxide is a lagging proxy for ocean temperatures. When global temperature, and along with it, ocean temperature rises, the physics of solubility causes atmospheric CO2 to increase.

If increases in carbon dioxide, or any other greenhouse gas, could have in turn raised global temperatures, the positive feedback would have been catastrophic. While the conditions for such a catastrophe were present in the Vostok record from natural causes, the runaway event did not occur. Carbon dioxide does not accumulate in the atmosphere."

http://www.rocketscientistsjournal.com/2006/10/co2_acquittal.html
_______________________________________________________________

The graph above represents temperature and CO2 levels over the past 400,000 years. It is the same exact data Al Gore and the rest of the man-made global warmers refer to. The blue line is temps, the red, CO2 levels. The deep valleys represent 4 separate glaciation/ice-age periods, approximately 100,000 years apart. Look carefully at the historical relationship between temps and CO2 levels (the present is on the right hand side of the graph) and keep in mind that Gore claims this data is the 'proof' that CO2 has warmed the earth in the past. But does this data indeed show this? Nope. In fact, rising CO2 levels all throughout this 400,000-year period actually *followed* temperature increases, lagging behind by an average of 800 years! So it couldn't have been CO2 that got Earth out of these past glaciations. Yet Gore continually and dishonestly uses this same data as "evidence" of a *positive* historical correlation between CO2 and temps. Furthermore, and importantly, the subsequent CO2 level increases (due to dissolved CO2 being released from warming oceans) never did lead to additional warming, the so-called "run-away greenhouse effect" that Al Gore and company continue warning us about. In short, there is little if any evidence that CO2 had ever led to any significant global warming when the levels were within 10-15 times of what they are today. -etl
_______________________________________________________________

"The above chart shows the range of global temperature through the last 500 million years. There is no statistical correlation between the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere through the last 500 million years and the temperature record in this interval. In fact, one of the highest levels of carbon dioxide concentration occurred during a major ice age that occurred about 450 million years ago [Myr]. Carbon dioxide concentrations at that time were about 15 times higher than at present." [also see 180 million years ago, same thing happened]:
http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=010405M
_______________________________________________________________

So, greenhouse [effect] is all about carbon dioxide, right?

Wrong. The most important players on the greenhouse stage are water vapor and clouds [clouds of course aren't gas, but high level ones do act to trap heat from escaping, while low-lying cumulus clouds tend to reflect sunlight and thereby help cool the planet -etl]. Carbon dioxide has been increased to about 0.038% of the atmosphere (possibly from about 0.028% pre-Industrial Revolution) while water in its various forms ranges from 0% to 4% of the atmosphere and its properties vary by what form it is in and even at what altitude it is found in the atmosphere.

In simple terms the bulk of Earth's greenhouse effect is due to water vapor by virtue of its abundance. Water accounts for about 90% of the Earth's greenhouse effect -- perhaps 70% is due to water vapor and about 20% due to clouds (mostly water droplets), some estimates put water as high as 95% of Earth's total tropospheric greenhouse effect (e.g., Freidenreich and Ramaswamy, 'Solar Radiation Absorption by Carbon Dioxide, Overlap with Water, and a Parameterization for General Circulation Models,' Journal of Geophysical Research 98 (1993):7255-7264).

The remaining portion comes from carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, ozone and miscellaneous other 'minor greenhouse gases.' As an example of the relative importance of water it should be noted that changes in the relative humidity on the order of 1.3-4% are equivalent to the effect of doubling CO2.

http://www.junkscience.com/Greenhouse/
_______________________________________________________________

Water Vapor Rules the Greenhouse System

Water vapor constitutes Earth's most significant greenhouse gas, accounting for about 95% of Earth's greenhouse effect (4). Interestingly, many 'facts and figures' regarding global warming completely ignore the powerful effects of water vapor in the greenhouse system, carelessly (perhaps, deliberately) overstating human impacts as much as 20-fold.

Water vapor is 99.999% of natural origin. Other atmospheric greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and miscellaneous other gases (CFC's, etc.), are also mostly of natural origin (except for the latter, which is mostly anthropogenic).

Human activities contribute slightly to greenhouse gas concentrations through farming, manufacturing, power generation, and transportation. However, these emissions are so dwarfed in comparison to emissions from natural sources we can do nothing about, that even the most costly efforts to limit human emissions would have a very small-- perhaps undetectable-- effect on global climate.

http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/greenhouse_data.html
_______________________________________________________________

Water Vapor Confirmed As Major Player In Climate Change

ScienceDaily (Nov. 18, 2008) — Water vapor is known to be Earth's most abundant greenhouse gas, but the extent of its contribution to global warming has been debated. Using recent NASA satellite data, researchers have estimated more precisely than ever the heat-trapping effect of water in the air, validating the role of the gas as a critical component of climate change.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081117193013.htm

[vpintheak]

TAP IT!

[centurion316]

It was unclear, however, if the Arctic emissions of methane gas were new or had been going on unnoticed for centuries -- since before the Industrial Revolution of the 18th century led to wide use of fossil fuels that are blamed for climate change.

Indeed. So, before you can proclaim that this is evidence of Antropogenic Global Warming, you must do some research, gather evidence, interpret said evidence, and publish your findings. This is just a guess on my part, but it may help when putting together an hypothesis: methane gas releases from Arctic sediments has been going on for millennia, but has been unknown to science because no one has heretofore thought to look,

[ETL]

I think it’s the comparatively low density of the methane gas upwellings (compared to surrounding sea water) that causes boats to sink. But I’m not sure about that.

[ETL]

before you can proclaim that this is evidence of Anthropogenic Global Warming, you must do some research

These international socialists and their assorted useful idiots blame just about everything now on "global warming". Even earthquakes! They say that sea-level rises (due to gore-bull warming of course) makes the oceans heavier and therefore puts greater stresses on the tectonic plates making for more violent earth movements.

[marstegreg]

If I can remember correctly, These bubbles come up from the ocean floor. Occasionally, these bubbles are HUGE, and those are the ones that are a danger to ships. From what I remember, if one of these bubbles comes up under a ship, it lifts enough of it out of the water for it to just “snap” in half. They did experiments on a smaller scale and it did exactly that. I found it really surprising, I guess that is why I remember it. I don’t know the effect on a smaller ship, but I would imagine it could easily flip in that situation.

[Sacajaweau]

I have a circa 1850 book that speaks of the methane gas emissions...even has drawings...I’ll have to look if it refers to specific areas.

[ETL]

Looks like we both may be right!

Monster methane sinks ships
30 November 2000

methane bubbles up:

A research team in the North Sea has found evidence to support a theory that the ocean can suddenly become lighter than air, so that ships will sink like a stone, within minutes.

According to a report in the latest New Scientist exploding Methane gas is the culprit.

“When the gas bubbles up from the surface, it lowers the density of the water, and therefore its buoyancy,” marine geologist Alan Judd from the University of Sunderland told the journal. “Any ship caught above would sink as if it were in a lift shaft.” People jumping overboard in lifejackets would also sink immediately. ...”

http://www.abc.net.au/cgi-bin/common/printfriendly.pl?/science/news/stories/s218210.htm
_______________________________________

Giant Bubbles Could Sink Ships
Anna Salleh, ABC Science Online

Oct. 24, 2003 — Methane bubbles from the sea floor could be responsible for the mysterious sinking of ships in areas like the Bermuda Triangle and the North Sea, new Australian research confirmed.

Computational mathematics honors student David May and supervisor, Professor Joseph Monaghan of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, reported their research in the American Journal of Physics.

Their modeling suggests that giant bubbles are much more likely to sink ships than previously thought, adding new weight to warnings about ships traveling in areas where bubbles are likely to be. ...”

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/afp/20031020/methane.html

[outhousepatrol]

What does a fart consist of?

Fart gas is highly variable. farts may produce carbon dioxide & bacteria also produces hydrogen and METHANE!

Neptune is just passing gas. PUT A CORK IN IT!

[ETL]

Yes! Great point! I did notice my new rubber ducky sank during my bath the other day!

[SoldierDad]

There is a reason "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" was a childhood staple once upon a time. Apparently, though, a generation skipped it.

A generation? More like several generations.

[SoldierDad]

Neptune is passing gas out beyond Uranus?

[the long march]

Can anyone say volcanolgy????

[ETL]

I once asked my astronomy professor the seemingly innocent question: “does Uranus emit gases?” He looked at me, paused for a moment and laughed, realizing I was joking with him. No one else in the class seemed to get it though.

[TennesseeGirl]

I’d welcome a warming trend, lol. We have FROZE this year. Our temps should be in the mid 50s by now, we are just now getting low 40’s. I feel like a popsicle.