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Serious ? - What happens when the permafrost melts fast due to GW?

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MoonRiver Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 03:08 PM
Original message
Serious ? - What happens when the permafrost melts fast due to GW?
I've heard it will release incredible amounts of toxic gases. Is this true? And what other effects might occur if this occurs?
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PATRICK Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 03:11 PM
Response to Original message
1. The passports
Edited on Thu Nov-17-05 03:11 PM by PATRICK
for the Inuits fleeing the new nation Canada generously gave them will be turned down.
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ayeshahaqqiqa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 03:11 PM
Response to Original message
2. water levels rise in the oceans?
what about increasing the amount of fresh water that pours into the N. Atlantic, thereby stopping the Gulf Stream?
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Vincardog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 03:11 PM
Response to Original message
3. well there are those Methane geysers erupting in Siberia, Greenhouse gas
don't ja know.
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Redstone Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 03:12 PM
Response to Original message
4. Means you better wear hip-waders when walking on the former tundra.
Gonna get muddy as hell.

Redstone
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PDJane Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 03:14 PM
Response to Reply #4
7. and yes,
There is some nasty stuff in the tundra that will be released into the atmosphere, especially if the humidity remains high.

We may end up starting evolution from scratch.
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SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 04:03 PM
Response to Reply #7
16. "new" germs awaken from their dormant slumber
and wreak havoc on our agriculture and on us :scared:
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global1 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 03:12 PM
Response to Original message
5. Does GW Refer To Bush or Global Warming? ...... n/t
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tocqueville Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 03:15 PM
Response to Reply #5
8. LOL you beat me to it n/t
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tocqueville Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 03:13 PM
Response to Original message
6. GW ? which one ? George Walker or Global Warming
or both ?
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MoonRiver Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 03:15 PM
Response to Reply #6
9. Global Warming. But maybe both?
:think:
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htuttle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 03:19 PM
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10. The general trend of our atmosphere (with excess warming)...
...will be to return to a state close to what the atmosphere was like 100s of millions of years ago -- full of CO2 and methane, very hot, and possibly not really enough oxygen to breath comfortably
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librechik Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 03:19 PM
Response to Original message
11. I believe there will be changes
but right now,most glaciers are drastically reduced and the interior ice in the Arctic Ocean has melted like 50% yet ocean levels aren't a whole lot higher.

So, I guess I don't know.
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Loonman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 03:22 PM
Response to Original message
12. I heard some people prefer their cucumbers pickled
nt
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hatrack Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 03:31 PM
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13. Not toxic, but certainly heat-retentive
The projections are that the melting frozen bogs in western Siberia (an area about the size of France & Germany combined) will release about 80 billion tons (more or less) of methane.

Of course, since methane is about 26 times as efficient at trapping heat as CO2 is, this will be the equivalent of about two trillion tons of CO2 entering the atmosphere in the space of a couple of decades.

Or, as scientists sometimes say, "Oops!"
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Dead_Parrot Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 03:49 PM
Response to Original message
14. Lots of methane...
Permafrost stores lots and lots of methane, which is 20x worse for global warming than carbon dioxide. While it stays frozen it's OK, but once it starts being released we're in trouble: The methane adds to the greenhouse effect, which warms up more permafrost, which releases more methane... you can see where that leads.

There's also a good few billion tons locked up under the oceans (google "methane hydrates") which is damn close to being released, as well.

The bad news is, this process has already started.
The good news is... err... well, we got Saddam! He was naughty!

Fun reading:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=115&topic_id=32112
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Toots Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 04:02 PM
Response to Original message
15. The Alaska Pipeline may fall over
It is built on permafrost so????????
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applegrove Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 05:45 PM
Response to Original message
17. I think permafrost will release lots of methane. Which is CO2 causing.
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applegrove Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 05:48 PM
Response to Original message
18. To reverse the process you have to get CO2 into a form that will
take it out of play. I read somewhere that when the world was covered with tiny sea creatures with shells - the creatures would die and the shells would fall to the bottom of the ocean - and take some greenhouse gasses with them in the form of that shell.
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lakeguy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Nov-17-05 06:38 PM
Response to Original message
19. there's enough methane trapped in the permafrost to increase
temps more than our fossil fuel burning has. there's also a good amount of organic matter that will degrade and release CO2. we're pretty f'ed if all that stuff melts.
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