Massive Permafrost Thaw Documented in Canada, Portends Huge Carbon Release

[ScienceRocks]

Massive Permafrost Thaw Documented in Canada, Portends Huge Carbon Release

"Huge slabs of Arctic permafrost in northwest Canada are slumping and disintegrating, sending large amounts of carbon-rich mud and silt into streams and rivers. A new study that analyzed nearly a half-million square miles in northwest Canada found that this permafrost decay is affecting 52,000 square miles of that vast stretch of earth—an expanse the size of Alabama."

Large sections of the Siberian permafrost are thawing and slumping (from the Cambridge University Press): "A megaslump at Batagaika, in northern Yakutia, exposes a remarkable stratigraphic sequence of permafrost deposits ~50–80 m thick."

Arctic ice coverage is at a historical low Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis | Sea ice data updated daily with one-day lag and huge chunks of Antarctic glaciers are calving https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/07/science/earth/antarctic-crack.html .

Massive Permafrost Thaw Documented in Canada, Portends Huge Carbon Release

Study shows 52,000 square miles in rapid decline, with sediment and carbon threatening the surrounding environment and potentially accelerating global warming.

Huge slabs of Arctic permafrost in northwest Canada are slumping and disintegrating, sending large amounts of carbon-rich mud and silt into streams and rivers. A new study that analyzed nearly a half-million square miles in northwest Canada found that this permafrost decay is affecting 52,000 square miles of that vast stretch of earth—an expanse the size of Alabama.

According to researchers with the Northwest Territories Geological Survey, the permafrost collapse is intensifying and causing landslides into rivers and lakes that can choke off life downstream, all the way to where the rivers discharge into the Arctic Ocean.

Similar large-scale landscape changes are evident across the Arctic including in Alaska, Siberia and Scandinavia, the researchers wrote in a paper published in the journal Geology in early February. The study didn't address the issue of greenhouse gas releases from thawing permafrost. But its findings could help quantify the immense global scale of the thawing, which will contribute to more accurate estimates of carbon emissions.

Massive permafrost thaw documented in Canada, portends huge carbon release

repubicans are laughing now but maybe not in the future...They're so stupid that reality will have to smack them across their retarded face to wake them up to reality!

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Massive Permafrost Thaw Documented in Canada, Portends Huge Carbon Release

"Huge slabs of Arctic permafrost in northwest Canada are slumping and disintegrating, sending large amounts of carbon-rich mud and silt into streams and rivers. A new study that analyzed nearly a half-million square miles in northwest Canada found that this permafrost decay is affecting 52,000 square miles of that vast stretch of earth—an expanse the size of Alabama."

Large sections of the Siberian permafrost are thawing and slumping (from the Cambridge University Press): "A megaslump at Batagaika, in northern Yakutia, exposes a remarkable stratigraphic sequence of permafrost deposits ~50–80 m thick."

Arctic ice coverage is at a historical low Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis | Sea ice data updated daily with one-day lag and huge chunks of Antarctic glaciers are calving https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/07/science/earth/antarctic-crack.html .

Massive Permafrost Thaw Documented in Canada, Portends Huge Carbon Release

Study shows 52,000 square miles in rapid decline, with sediment and carbon threatening the surrounding environment and potentially accelerating global warming.

Huge slabs of Arctic permafrost in northwest Canada are slumping and disintegrating, sending large amounts of carbon-rich mud and silt into streams and rivers. A new study that analyzed nearly a half-million square miles in northwest Canada found that this permafrost decay is affecting 52,000 square miles of that vast stretch of earth—an expanse the size of Alabama.

According to researchers with the Northwest Territories Geological Survey, the permafrost collapse is intensifying and causing landslides into rivers and lakes that can choke off life downstream, all the way to where the rivers discharge into the Arctic Ocean.

Similar large-scale landscape changes are evident across the Arctic including in Alaska, Siberia and Scandinavia, the researchers wrote in a paper published in the journal Geology in early February. The study didn't address the issue of greenhouse gas releases from thawing permafrost. But its findings could help quantify the immense global scale of the thawing, which will contribute to more accurate estimates of carbon emissions.

Massive permafrost thaw documented in Canada, portends huge carbon release

repubicans are laughing now but maybe not in the future...They're so stupid that reality will have to smack them across their retarded face to wake them up to reality!

When the permafrost under the glacier that once covered Chicago thawed.....we all died.

 

[flacaltenn]

Massive Permafrost Thaw Documented in Canada, Portends Huge Carbon Release

"Huge slabs of Arctic permafrost in northwest Canada are slumping and disintegrating, sending large amounts of carbon-rich mud and silt into streams and rivers. A new study that analyzed nearly a half-million square miles in northwest Canada found that this permafrost decay is affecting 52,000 square miles of that vast stretch of earth—an expanse the size of Alabama."

Large sections of the Siberian permafrost are thawing and slumping (from the Cambridge University Press): "A megaslump at Batagaika, in northern Yakutia, exposes a remarkable stratigraphic sequence of permafrost deposits ~50–80 m thick."

Arctic ice coverage is at a historical low Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis | Sea ice data updated daily with one-day lag and huge chunks of Antarctic glaciers are calving https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/07/science/earth/antarctic-crack.html .

Massive Permafrost Thaw Documented in Canada, Portends Huge Carbon Release

Study shows 52,000 square miles in rapid decline, with sediment and carbon threatening the surrounding environment and potentially accelerating global warming.

Huge slabs of Arctic permafrost in northwest Canada are slumping and disintegrating, sending large amounts of carbon-rich mud and silt into streams and rivers. A new study that analyzed nearly a half-million square miles in northwest Canada found that this permafrost decay is affecting 52,000 square miles of that vast stretch of earth—an expanse the size of Alabama.

According to researchers with the Northwest Territories Geological Survey, the permafrost collapse is intensifying and causing landslides into rivers and lakes that can choke off life downstream, all the way to where the rivers discharge into the Arctic Ocean.

Similar large-scale landscape changes are evident across the Arctic including in Alaska, Siberia and Scandinavia, the researchers wrote in a paper published in the journal Geology in early February. The study didn't address the issue of greenhouse gas releases from thawing permafrost. But its findings could help quantify the immense global scale of the thawing, which will contribute to more accurate estimates of carbon emissions.

Massive permafrost thaw documented in Canada, portends huge carbon release

repubicans are laughing now but maybe not in the future...They're so stupid that reality will have to smack them across their retarded face to wake them up to reality!

Large sections of the Siberian permafrost are thawing and slumping (from the Cambridge University Press): "A megaslump at Batagaika, in northern Yakutia, exposes a remarkable stratigraphic sequence of permafrost deposits ~50–80 m thick."

Jeebus Matthew.. Have you checked the TEMPERATURE in Batagaika Siberia??? Currently at this hour it's -16degF..

This is how the new tabloid version of NYTimes operates. A "slump" is a geological condition, not NECCESSARILY CAUSED by melting. In fact -- that site in Batagaika, in northern Yakutia, is the home of one of the planet's largest land based craters. And for all we know -- the NYTimes was fed a load of confusing shit that they didn't have a PRAYER of interpreting..

 

[Crick]

When the permafrost under the glacier that once covered Chicago thawed.....we all died.

What permafrost?

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

When the permafrost under the glacier that once covered Chicago thawed.....we all died.

What permafrost?

Under the Chicago area.

 

[RollingThunder]

When the permafrost under the glacier that once covered Chicago thawed.....we all died.

What permafrost?

It's quite possible that the Toad doesn't know what the word even means.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

When the permafrost under the glacier that once covered Chicago thawed.....we all died.

What permafrost?

It's quite possible that the Toad doesn't know what the word even means.

In geology, permafrost is ground,[1] including rock or (cryotic) soil, at or below the freezing point of water 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Massive Permafrost Thaw Documented in Canada, Portends Huge Carbon Release

"Huge slabs of Arctic permafrost in northwest Canada are slumping and disintegrating, sending large amounts of carbon-rich mud and silt into streams and rivers. A new study that analyzed nearly a half-million square miles in northwest Canada found that this permafrost decay is affecting 52,000 square miles of that vast stretch of earth—an expanse the size of Alabama."

Large sections of the Siberian permafrost are thawing and slumping (from the Cambridge University Press): "A megaslump at Batagaika, in northern Yakutia, exposes a remarkable stratigraphic sequence of permafrost deposits ~50–80 m thick."

Arctic ice coverage is at a historical low Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysis | Sea ice data updated daily with one-day lag and huge chunks of Antarctic glaciers are calving https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/07/science/earth/antarctic-crack.html .

Massive Permafrost Thaw Documented in Canada, Portends Huge Carbon Release

Study shows 52,000 square miles in rapid decline, with sediment and carbon threatening the surrounding environment and potentially accelerating global warming.

Huge slabs of Arctic permafrost in northwest Canada are slumping and disintegrating, sending large amounts of carbon-rich mud and silt into streams and rivers. A new study that analyzed nearly a half-million square miles in northwest Canada found that this permafrost decay is affecting 52,000 square miles of that vast stretch of earth—an expanse the size of Alabama.

According to researchers with the Northwest Territories Geological Survey, the permafrost collapse is intensifying and causing landslides into rivers and lakes that can choke off life downstream, all the way to where the rivers discharge into the Arctic Ocean.

Similar large-scale landscape changes are evident across the Arctic including in Alaska, Siberia and Scandinavia, the researchers wrote in a paper published in the journal Geology in early February. The study didn't address the issue of greenhouse gas releases from thawing permafrost. But its findings could help quantify the immense global scale of the thawing, which will contribute to more accurate estimates of carbon emissions.

Massive permafrost thaw documented in Canada, portends huge carbon release

repubicans are laughing now but maybe not in the future...They're so stupid that reality will have to smack them across their retarded face to wake them up to reality!

"Carbon rich mud"????

Really???

 

[flacaltenn]

When the permafrost under the glacier that once covered Chicago thawed.....we all died.

What permafrost?

It's quite possible that the Toad doesn't know what the word even means.

Or -- it's quite possible that TinkerBelle doesn't realize that 80% of the planets carbon calthrate reserves THRICE melted during past interglacials and the Earth and it's atmosphere DID NOT melt away.. Not only that -- but with calthrates literally exploding the CO2 levels --- somehow it just stopped producing warming.

 

[RollingThunder]

When the permafrost under the glacier that once covered Chicago thawed.....we all died.

What permafrost?

It's quite possible that the Toad doesn't know what the word even means.

Or -- it's quite possible that TinkerBelle doesn't realize that 80% of the planets carbon calthrate reserves THRICE melted during past interglacials and the Earth and it's atmosphere DID NOT melt away.. Not only that -- but with calthrates literally exploding the CO2 levels --- somehow it just stopped producing warming.

And, as usual with you, Fecalhead, you have no evidence, no links, no citations to anything factual.......just your unsupported word that you somehow imagine anyone actually believes.

There have been some massive methane clathrate releases in the very distant past...and they are linked to mass extinctions and thermal maximum periods.

Methane clathrates and climate change
Wikipedia
Main article: Clathrate gun hypothesis
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. Despite its short atmospheric half life of 12 years, methane has a global warming potential of 86 over 20 years and 34 over 100 years (IPCC, 2013). The sudden release of large amounts of natural gas from methane clathrate deposits has been hypothesized as a cause of past and possibly future climate changes. Events possibly linked in this way are the Permian-Triassic extinction event and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.

Climate scientists like James E. Hansen predict that methane clathrates in the permafrost regions will be released because of global warming, unleashing powerful feedback forces which may cause runaway climate change that cannot be halted.

Research carried out in 2008 in the Siberian Arctic found millions of tonnes of methane being released[35][36][37][38][39] with concentrations in some regions reaching up to 100 times above normal.[40]

In their Correspondence in the September 2013 Nature Geoscience journal, Vonk and Gustafsson cautioned that the most probable mechanism to strengthen global warming is large-scale thawing of Arctic permafrost which will release methane clathrate into the atmosphere.[41] While performing research in July in plumes in the East Siberian Arctic Ocean, Gustafsson and Vonk were surprised by the high concentration of methane.[42]

In 2014 based on their research on the northern United States Atlantic marine continental margins from Cape Hatteras to Georges Bank, a group of scientists from the US Geological Survey, the Department of Geosciences, Mississippi State University, Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University and Earth Resources Technology, claimed there was widespread leakage of methane.[43] [44]

 

[Old Rocks]

When the permafrost under the glacier that once covered Chicago thawed.....we all died.

What permafrost?

It's quite possible that the Toad doesn't know what the word even means.

Or -- it's quite possible that TinkerBelle doesn't realize that 80% of the planets carbon calthrate reserves THRICE melted during past interglacials and the Earth and it's atmosphere DID NOT melt away.. Not only that -- but with calthrates literally exploding the CO2 levels --- somehow it just stopped producing warming.

Calling bullshit on that. Link to a credible source.

 

[Old Rocks]

Past extreme warming events linked to massive carbon release from thawing permafrost

• 
  
  
  • Robert M. DeConto,
  • Simone Galeotti,
  • Mark Pagani,
  • David Tracy,
  • Kevin Schaefer,
  • Tingjun Zhang,
  • David Pollard
  • & David J. Beerling

Between about 55.5 and 52 million years ago, Earth experienced a series of sudden and extreme global warming events (hyperthermals) superimposed on a long-term warming trend1. The first and largest of these events, the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), is characterized by a massive input of carbon, ocean acidification2 and an increase in global temperature of about 5 °C within a few thousand years3. Although various explanations for the PETM have been proposed4,5, 6, a satisfactory model that accounts for the source, magnitude and timing of carbon release at the PETM and successive hyperthermals remains elusive. Here we use a new astronomically calibrated cyclostratigraphic record from central Italy7 to show that the Early Eocene hyperthermals occurred during orbits with a combination of high eccentricity and high obliquity. Corresponding climate–ecosystem–soil simulations accounting for rising concentrations of background greenhouse gases8 and orbital forcing show that the magnitude and timing of the PETM and subsequent hyperthermals can be explained by the orbitally triggered decomposition of soil organic carbon in circum-Arctic and Antarctic terrestrial permafrost. This massive carbon reservoir had the potential to repeatedly release thousands of petagrams (1015 grams) of carbon to the atmosphere–ocean system, once a long-term warming threshold had been reached just before the PETM. Replenishment of permafrost soil carbon stocks following peak warming probably contributed to the rapid recovery from each event9, while providing a sensitive carbon reservoir for the next hyperthermal10. As background temperatures continued to rise following the PETM, the areal extent of permafrost steadily declined, resulting in an incrementally smaller available carbon pool and smaller hyperthermals at each successive orbital forcing maximum. A mechanism linking Earth’s orbital properties with release of soil carbon from permafrost provides a unifying model accounting for the salient features of the hyperthermals.

Past extreme warming events linked to massive carbon release from thawing permafrost : Nature : Nature Research

From the past.

 

[mamooth]

Have you checked the TEMPERATURE in Batagaika Siberia??? Currently at this hour it's -16degF..

It's possible flac is unable to grasp that a story published in the _present_ may describe an event in the recent _past_.

Or perhaps he believes that Siberia being cold in winter precludes it from being warm enough in summer to melt permafrost.

Flac, which of those is it? If neither, then why did you find it so vital to tell everyone Siberia is cold right now?

 

[flacaltenn]

Have you checked the TEMPERATURE in Batagaika Siberia??? Currently at this hour it's -16degF..

It's possible flac is unable to grasp that a story published in the _present_ may describe an event in the recent _past_.

Or perhaps he believes that Siberia being cold in winter precludes it from being warm enough in summer to melt permafrost.

Flac, which of those is it? If neither, then why did you find it so vital to tell everyone Siberia is cold right now?

Oh good point. It's only frozen a few hours LESS a year in June and July up there.

To wit ---- from the link..

"We've seen a significant reduction in the number of ice days (those with 24 hours of sub-freezing temperatures), especially in the summer months," said Reisenhofer, who works at a climate observatory at an elevation of 8,500 feet. "From 2010 to 2014, the number of ice days decreased by 11 in May, and 10 in June." During that span, the mountain beneath the research station crumbled, requiring a huge investment to stabilize the outpost, he said.

Well that's damn strange considering that from 2010 to 2014 --- The GMAST temperature only changed by about 0.02degC... WELLLLLLL maybe not. See when you make the metric "a 24 hour day of sub-freezing temperatures" like these guys did --- And you get even ONE FREAKING HOUR of 32.5degF -- you add to the "doomsday clock" of less "ice days". Just the name is misleading. It's more like "ice minutes"...

Perfect example of a metric that will display GREATLY increased variance over nothing burgers in the forcing function.

 

[flacaltenn]

Have you checked the TEMPERATURE in Batagaika Siberia??? Currently at this hour it's -16degF..

It's possible flac is unable to grasp that a story published in the _present_ may describe an event in the recent _past_.

Or perhaps he believes that Siberia being cold in winter precludes it from being warm enough in summer to melt permafrost.

Flac, which of those is it? If neither, then why did you find it so vital to tell everyone Siberia is cold right now?

Oh good point. It's only frozen a few hours LESS a year in June and July up there.

To wit ---- from the link..

"We've seen a significant reduction in the number of ice days (those with 24 hours of sub-freezing temperatures), especially in the summer months," said Reisenhofer, who works at a climate observatory at an elevation of 8,500 feet. "From 2010 to 2014, the number of ice days decreased by 11 in May, and 10 in June." During that span, the mountain beneath the research station crumbled, requiring a huge investment to stabilize the outpost, he said.

Well that's damn strange considering that from 2010 to 2014 --- The GMAST temperature only changed by about 0.02degC... WELLLLLLL maybe not. See when you make the metric "a 24 hour day of sub-freezing temperatures" like these guys did --- And you get even ONE FREAKING HOUR of 32.5degF -- you add to the "doomsday clock" of less "ice days". Just the name is misleading. It's more like "ice minutes"...

Perfect example of a metric that will display GREATLY increased variance over nothing burgers in the forcing function.

OMG --- I missed the most entertaining part of that quote. Same sad story that had about houses and roads sinking into the permafrost in Alaska about a year back. When you build a observation center on PERMAFROST you COMPLETELY cut off the natural cooling to the sky that occurs EVERY HOUR of EVERY DAY. So eventually, you build a structure and if it doesn't go to granite -- you're gonna sink.

Now you'd think on a MOUNTAIN SIDE below the station you wouldn't affect the LWIR radiation with the station -- but you CAN shadow the direct path to the sky with the structures, outbuildings and plumbing. And you'd THINK - you could pay a bit more and sink some supports to Granite.

 

[flacaltenn]

The sudden release of large amounts of natural gas from methane clathrate deposits has been hypothesized as a cause of past and possibly future climate changes. Events possibly linked in this way are the Permian-Triassic extinction event and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.

Yeah.. That's one theory. The OTHER one is 800,000 sq mile lake of lava that covered siberia and parts of china. Rifts and seismic activity are STILL TODAY the most likely path to release calthrates from Siberia. Ask the Russians.

 

[RollingThunder]

Oops, accidental post.

 

[RollingThunder]

Methane clathrates and climate change
Wikipedia
Main article: Clathrate gun hypothesis
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. Despite its short atmospheric half life of 12 years, methane has a global warming potential of 86 over 20 years and 34 over 100 years (IPCC, 2013). The sudden release of large amounts of natural gas from methane clathrate deposits has been hypothesized as a cause of past and possibly future climate changes. Events possibly linked in this way are the Permian-Triassic extinction event and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.

Climate scientists like James E. Hansen predict that methane clathrates in the permafrost regions will be released because of global warming, unleashing powerful feedback forces which may cause runaway climate change that cannot be halted.

Research carried out in 2008 in the Siberian Arctic found millions of tonnes of methane being released[35][36][37][38][39] with concentrations in some regions reaching up to 100 times above normal.[40]

In their Correspondence in the September 2013 Nature Geoscience journal, Vonk and Gustafsson cautioned that the most probable mechanism to strengthen global warming is large-scale thawing of Arctic permafrost which will release methane clathrate into the atmosphere.[41] While performing research in July in plumes in the East Siberian Arctic Ocean, Gustafsson and Vonk were surprised by the high concentration of methane.[42]

In 2014 based on their research on the northern United States Atlantic marine continental margins from Cape Hatteras to Georges Bank, a group of scientists from the US Geological Survey, the Department of Geosciences, Mississippi State University, Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University and Earth Resources Technology, claimed there was widespread leakage of methane.[43] [44]

Yeah.. That's one theory. The OTHER one is 800,000 sq mile lake of lava that covered siberia and parts of china. Rifts and seismic activity are STILL TODAY the most likely path to release calthrates from Siberia. Ask the Russians.

LOLOLOLOL.....OMG, you're so clueless, it's really just ludicrous!

You have no idea what that article I quoted even meant, obviously.

It is talking about the effects on the climate and the biosphere when methane clathrates have been naturally released in large quanties in the past. it says nothing whatsoever about HOW the release happened. It talks about the fact that previous naturally driven releases are chronologically linked to the sudden climate changes that created mass extinction events and geological thermal maximums, and then it talks about the current huge increase in methane levels and the rising evidence that rising temperatures are starting to destabilize the clathrates under lakes and shallow ocean bottoms, and melt the poorly named permafrost. The melting of the permafrost, BTW, involves not just methane that is locked in ice but methane produced and released in the present time by the bacteria that immediately begin digesting the ancient frozen vegetation in permafrost as it thaws.

But you idiotically start talking nonsense about "That's one theory" as if they were talking about how the clathrates got released....which actually has nothing to do with their known effects when they get into the atmosphere. It is quite clear that they cause global warming driven climate changes, whether or not they were released by volcanism (your supposedly "OTHER" theory, connected to nothing at all in that article) or some other possible natural causes. Currently there is a very worrisome rapid and accelerating buildup of methane in the atmosphere resulting from human activities like natural gas (methane) drilling and extraction, oil drilling, and a variety of industrial activities, plus all of the cow farts and other agriculturally produced methane....and on top of that, along comes this other, potentially runaway, self-reinforcing buildup of methane levels starting with the currently increasing release of methane locked in the clathrates and being produced by bacteria as the permafrost thaws. All of this methane, which is itself a powerful greenhouse gas, is adding to and accelerating the global warming effect of the rapidly increasing CO2 levels. Which, scientist rightly fear, is going to set off a kind of chain reaction or feedback loop where the methane makes it hotter and that releases more methane. This is known in climate science as a "tipping point".

Since you chose this cip to quote, this seems to be the part of that article that you failed miserably to understand, apparently believing it to be the "theory" that was somehow opposed your volcanism theory as to how the clathrates were released. In fact, it is pretty self-explanatory.

"The sudden release of large amounts of natural gas from methane clathrate deposits has been hypothesized as a cause of past and possibly future climate changes. Events possibly linked in this way are the Permian-Triassic extinction event and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum."

Here's something else to chew on....

Overall, atmospheric concentrations of methane have grown from about 700 parts per billion in the preindustrial era to more than 1,840 parts per billion today. This suggests that much like with carbon dioxide, industrialization and modernization have had a long-term effect of unlocking large volumes of methane from the Earth.

There’s still far less total methane in the atmosphere than there is carbon dioxide (whose concentrations are now above 400 parts per million) — but molecule for molecule, methane packs a much stronger punch. Over a 100-year period, the emission of a given amount of methane is about 28 times as powerful when it comes to global warming as the emissions of an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide. When methane is released chronically, over decades, the concentration in the atmosphere will rise to a new equilibrium value. It won’t keep rising indefinitely, like CO2 would, because methane degrades while CO2 essentially just accumulates. Methane degrades into CO2, in fact, further increasing CO2 levels.

 

[flacaltenn]

Methane clathrates and climate change
Wikipedia
Main article: Clathrate gun hypothesis
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. Despite its short atmospheric half life of 12 years, methane has a global warming potential of 86 over 20 years and 34 over 100 years (IPCC, 2013). The sudden release of large amounts of natural gas from methane clathrate deposits has been hypothesized as a cause of past and possibly future climate changes. Events possibly linked in this way are the Permian-Triassic extinction event and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.

Climate scientists like James E. Hansen predict that methane clathrates in the permafrost regions will be released because of global warming, unleashing powerful feedback forces which may cause runaway climate change that cannot be halted.

Research carried out in 2008 in the Siberian Arctic found millions of tonnes of methane being released[35][36][37][38][39] with concentrations in some regions reaching up to 100 times above normal.[40]

In their Correspondence in the September 2013 Nature Geoscience journal, Vonk and Gustafsson cautioned that the most probable mechanism to strengthen global warming is large-scale thawing of Arctic permafrost which will release methane clathrate into the atmosphere.[41] While performing research in July in plumes in the East Siberian Arctic Ocean, Gustafsson and Vonk were surprised by the high concentration of methane.[42]

In 2014 based on their research on the northern United States Atlantic marine continental margins from Cape Hatteras to Georges Bank, a group of scientists from the US Geological Survey, the Department of Geosciences, Mississippi State University, Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University and Earth Resources Technology, claimed there was widespread leakage of methane.[43] [44]

Yeah.. That's one theory. The OTHER one is 800,000 sq mile lake of lava that covered siberia and parts of china. Rifts and seismic activity are STILL TODAY the most likely path to release calthrates from Siberia. Ask the Russians.

LOLOLOLOL.....OMG, you're so clueless, it's really just ludicrous!

You have no idea what that article I quoted even meant, obviously.

It is talking about the effects on the climate and the biosphere when methane clathrates have been naturally released in large quanties in the past. it says nothing whatsoever about HOW the release happened. It talks about the fact that previous naturally driven releases are chronologically linked to the sudden climate changes that created mass extinction events and geological thermal maximums, and then it talks about the current huge increase in methane levels and the rising evidence that rising temperatures are starting to destabilize the clathrates under lakes and shallow ocean bottoms, and melt the poorly named permafrost. The melting of the permafrost, BTW, involves not just methane that is locked in ice but methane produced and released in the present time by the bacteria that immediately begin digesting the ancient frozen vegetation in permafrost as it thaws.

But you idiotically start talking nonsense about "That's one theory" as if they were talking about how the clathrates got released....which actually has nothing to do with their known effects when they get into the atmosphere. It is quite clear that they cause global warming driven climate changes, whether or not they were released by volcanism (your supposedly "OTHER" theory, connected to nothing at all in that article) or some other possible natural causes. Currently there is a very worrisome rapid and accelerating buildup of methane in the atmosphere resulting from human activities like natural gas (methane) drilling and extraction, oil drilling, and a variety of industrial activities, plus all of the cow farts and other agriculturally produced methane....and on top of that, along comes this other, potentially runaway, self-reinforcing buildup of methane levels starting with the currently increasing release of methane locked in the clathrates and being produced by bacteria as the permafrost thaws. All of this methane, which is itself a powerful greenhouse gas, is adding to and accelerating the global warming effect of the rapidly increasing CO2 levels. Which, scientist rightly fear, is going to set off a kind of chain reaction or feedback loop where the methane makes it hotter and that releases more methane. This is known in climate science as a "tipping point".

Since you chose this cip to quote, this seems to be the part of that article that you failed miserably to understand, apparently believing it to be the "theory" that was somehow opposed your volcanism theory as to how the clathrates were released. In fact, it is pretty self-explanatory.

"The sudden release of large amounts of natural gas from methane clathrate deposits has been hypothesized as a cause of past and possibly future climate changes. Events possibly linked in this way are the Permian-Triassic extinction event and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum."

Here's something else to chew on....

Overall, atmospheric concentrations of methane have grown from about 700 parts per billion in the preindustrial era to more than 1,840 parts per billion today. This suggests that much like with carbon dioxide, industrialization and modernization have had a long-term effect of unlocking large volumes of methane from the Earth.

There’s still far less total methane in the atmosphere than there is carbon dioxide (whose concentrations are now above 400 parts per million) — but molecule for molecule, methane packs a much stronger punch. Over a 100-year period, the emission of a given amount of methane is about 28 times as powerful when it comes to global warming as the emissions of an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide. When methane is released chronically, over decades, the concentration in the atmosphere will rise to a new equilibrium value. It won’t keep rising indefinitely, like CO2 would, because methane degrades while CO2 essentially just accumulates. Methane degrades into CO2, in fact, further increasing CO2 levels.

I knew all that. My comments still stand. It WAS in large parts NATURAL CAUSES, like volcanism and quakes and 800,000 sq mi lakes of lava that CAUSED the "natural releases".. It was ALL natural -- and the CO2 levels were massively higher than our projections for 2100 and YET --- the Earth did NOT commit planetcide --- did it Tink???

 

[Billy_Bob]

Have you checked the TEMPERATURE in Batagaika Siberia??? Currently at this hour it's -16degF..

It's possible flac is unable to grasp that a story published in the _present_ may describe an event in the recent _past_.

Or perhaps he believes that Siberia being cold in winter precludes it from being warm enough in summer to melt permafrost.

Flac, which of those is it? If neither, then why did you find it so vital to tell everyone Siberia is cold right now?

Oh good point. It's only frozen a few hours LESS a year in June and July up there.

To wit ---- from the link..

"We've seen a significant reduction in the number of ice days (those with 24 hours of sub-freezing temperatures), especially in the summer months," said Reisenhofer, who works at a climate observatory at an elevation of 8,500 feet. "From 2010 to 2014, the number of ice days decreased by 11 in May, and 10 in June." During that span, the mountain beneath the research station crumbled, requiring a huge investment to stabilize the outpost, he said.

Well that's damn strange considering that from 2010 to 2014 --- The GMAST temperature only changed by about 0.02degC... WELLLLLLL maybe not. See when you make the metric "a 24 hour day of sub-freezing temperatures" like these guys did --- And you get even ONE FREAKING HOUR of 32.5degF -- you add to the "doomsday clock" of less "ice days". Just the name is misleading. It's more like "ice minutes"...

Perfect example of a metric that will display GREATLY increased variance over nothing burgers in the forcing function.

More AGW deceptions from the far left wacko's that was contrived to cause fear... when there is no emergency. And these fools claim to be scientists..

Cognitive thinking escapes many in the general public so they are easily driven by fear. This is pseudoscience for political agenda.