General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsClimate scientist drops the F-bomb after startling Arctic discovery
Wednesday, Aug 6, 2014 04:27 PM EST
Climate scientist drops the F-bomb after startling Arctic discovery
Sometimes, you've just got to tell it like it is
Lindsay Abrams Follow
Climate scientist drops the F-bomb after startling Arctic discovery (Credit: akphotoc/Shutterstock)
Theres nothing like Twitter to take a complicated issue and force you to break it down to its essence. In a case where scientists in the Arctic discovered massive plumes of methane escaping from the seafloor, climatologist and Arctic expert Jason Box sums that essence up thusly:
Follow
If even a small fraction of Arctic sea floor carbon is released to the atmosphere, we're f'd.
11:43 AM - 29 Jul 2014 Copenhagen, Danmark
The study concerns the large deposits of methane (CH4) a greenhouse gas over twenty times more potent than CO2 known to be buried beneath the Arctic. Stockholm University researchers found that some of that methane is leaking, and even making it to the oceans surface. They called the discovery somewhat of a surprise, which, according to Box, doesnt quite communicate its importance. Motherboard senior editor Brian Merchant, sensing an opportunity to speak climate in more accessible language, followed up with Box, who stood by his assertion (and use of foul language):
The conventional thought is that the bubbles would be dissolved before they reached the surface and that microorganisms would consume that methane, and thats normal, Box went on. But if the plumes are making it to the surface, thats a brand new source of heat-trapping gases that we need to worry about.
The Arctic is our most immediate carbon concern, Box said, referring also to the CH4 escaping from the melting permafrost. But the sentiment can be expanded to all of climate change:
more...
http://www.salon.com/2014/08/06/climate_scientist_drops_the_f_bomb_after_startling_arctic_discovery/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
redqueen
(115,103 posts)From 2009:
Over 250 plumes of gas have been discovered bubbling up from the sea floor to the west of the Svalbard archipelago, which lies north of Norway. The bubbles are mostly methane, which is a greenhouse gas much more powerful than carbon dioxide.
The methane is probably coming from reserves of methane hydrate beneath the sea bed. These hydrates, also known as clathrates, are water ice with methane molecules embedded in them.
The methane plumes were discovered by an expedition aboard the research ship James Clark Ross, led by Graham Westbrook of the University of Birmingham and Tim Minshull of the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, both in the UK.
...
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17625-as-arctic-ocean-warms-megatonnes-of-methane-bubble-up.html
Yes, we are f'd, but it is hardly news.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)neverforget
(9,437 posts)of the observed methane plumes reached the surface. Now they are and that's the difference.
I would copy the paragraph but I'm on my phone.
redqueen
(115,103 posts)Those who were paying attention at the time know that many people witnessed these bubbles on the surface. The comment you refer to, which is immediately qualified by location, seems to be little more than a sad attempt to desperately cling to hope.
Looking back, there's no other conclusion possible.
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)wyldwolf
(43,870 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)snagglepuss
(12,704 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)The human race is going to need to pull the reins before the horse gallops over the edge of the cliff.
Um, that image is very offensive, it was used by a guy describing how the world is in the hands of the corporations, and our government is just the people's advocacy and community organizer to save ourselves.
That wasn't offensive in every sense, but the horse off the cliff, despite some who insist on deliberately doing just that every year... I digress, as always, not having had my coffee fix... is very upsetting to me.
I prefer the lemmings model of mass extinction. Oh, no, another unhappy image of furry things like the time I saw a load of beautiful, healthy looking dogs that merely looked asleep as they had been euthanized at the pound that slid off the backside of their truck at the city landfill appears...
I think I'll just ignore the whole thing, like most people do (not you) and see what's up in LBN. Someone's feelings are going to get hurt one way or the other...
Need coffee, sorry. Nice pic, by the way.
marions ghost
(19,841 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,425 posts)Thanks for the thread, babylonsister.