Earth's permafrost starts to squelch

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In addition to northern Alaska, the permafrost zone includes most other Arctic land, such as northern Canada and much of Siberia, as well as the higher reaches of mountainous regions such as the Alps and Tibet. All report permafrost thaw.

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There is now an active programme of permafrost monitoring

Thawing permafrost can cause buildings and roads to droop, and pipelines to crack.

Natural features are also affected. Scientists reported an increased frequency in landslides in the soil-based permafrost of Canada, and an increased instability and slope failures in mountainous regions, such as the Alps, where ice is locked in bedrock.

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But not all outcomes of permafrost thaw have precedent, or an immediate solution. One considerable variable is the possible release into the air of organic carbon stored in the permafrost. In the drier areas, most of the emissions would be in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2). But in the wetter areas, it would be methane, a more effective greenhouse gas.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4120755.stm

There's a reason permafrost is called "perma" frost. No global warming here. Don't worry about it.

The huge stores of CO2 and methane (which is 10x worse as a greenhouse gas) are being released into the atmosphere -- after being locked up in the permafrost for a very, very long time. Things are changing fast.

More fresh water to rain down further raising the levels and desalinating the oceans (A little bit).

Every little bit counts!

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The recent blackout of the power grid for the eastern seaboard had an out-of-proportion positive effect on local air quality. Is it not possible our ecosystem has a greater capability for self-regulation than we realize?

If we are not already in the midst of an an unstoppable reaction, could a radical national or global pollution rationing yield a positive result?

I know this sounds naive, but it seems our science on this matter is still ignorant to all of the factors in play, and is in a constant game of catch-up to the effects we are already experiencing.

Russia was the original reluctant party to Kyoto, and now endorses without restriction. It seems most industrialized nations would be eager to explore possibilities. (oh, for an environmentally minded president... or an actual president for that matter...)

The Hammer and the Pendulum
By Richard Noone, update at end of article

“In a polar region there is a continual deposition of ice, which is not symmetrically distributed about the pole. The earth's rotation acts on these unsymmetrically deposited masses (of ice), and produces centrifugal momentum that is transmitted to the rigid crust of the earth. The constantly increasing centrifugal momentum produced in this way will, when it has reached a certain point, produce a movement of the earth's crust over the rest of the earth's body, and will displace the polar regions toward the equator.” Albert Einstein

The shift in the Earth's crust was as sudden as it was devastating. It moved with such deadly force, with such overwhelming ferocity that it caught everything in its path unaware and unsuspecting. It came like a great white shark from the ocean depths its jaws open wide ready to close on its victim. Nothing signified its approach, nothing warned of its danger.

Like a thief in the night, the deadly force moved, secretly and silently, propelled by centrifugal forces, its primeval power multiplying in strength, multiplying in intensity and with ever increasing velocity it carried its deadly power encased in the frigid ice of the poles, and with a suddenness born of seeming desperation, it tore the planets rigid crust asunder. There was a moment of seeming indecision, and then the earth virtually ignited in angry response as volcanos erupted and deadly earthquakes shook the globe.

The cataclysm came literally out of the blue, shattering the earth's crust and driving the ocean into a maelstrom of death as the waters, riling in rage, burst across the land in 100 foot waves that afforded no warning to the inhabitants, no mercy for the living. A great civilization was reduced to rubble. With the passage of time only a legend of the dream of the Golden Age that had been remained in the minds of those who survived. Those that could had sought protection in the hills, others, less fortunate but no less determined, fought it out with nature with a courage born of desperation. Few prevailed, but those that did wandered the ruins like wild children. They had been stripped of their basic necessities and their dreams of tomorrow that their civilization had provided. Bewildered, their trust in God, in Nature, and even in their fellow man, shattered, yet driven by the instinct to survive, they began the task of forging a living from what remained, knowing nothing of what tomorrow would bring! It would be many years, and countless aftershocks, before the event was over, so, without choice, they lived minute by minute with an anxiety born of panic,wondering, always wondering, if, or when, the earth would shift again.

Dramatic? Perhaps, but no less true. Newly published evidence that is as exciting as any Hollywood disaster script, or a synopsis of an historical geological event that transpired in remote antiquity, demonstrates that there was a geological Armageddon of such magnitude that it is almost beyond comprehension. Catastrophic earth changes of this magnitude have been a part of earth's history since time began, and with no less certainty they will be a part of its future. So as unpleasant as it may seem, it behooves us to take an investigative look at the theories that have attempted to explain these great periods of global death and extinction. Strangely, few theories have come from the orthodox community, but those that have are better characterized as let-me-guess theories that seem to answer nothing. The more effectual efforts have come from a few seriously dedicated authors who have picked up the reins from Professor Charles H. Hapgood and have advanced his work to the level of a working model.

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http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=42