LINK: Melting Arctic is releasing millions of tons of methane
post by polymathwannabe · 2014-07-07T23:31:07.499Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 13 commentsOnly the first half of this page is devoted to stating facts; the latter half is a call for political action. The facts section states that the millions of tons of methane trapped in the Arctic ice are a factor not commonly taken into account in future climate models, and its release will very quickly worsen global warming to the point of posing a serious existential risk.
http://www.alternet.org/environment/giant-methane-monster-lurking?paging=off
13 comments
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comment by falenas108 · 2014-07-08T04:25:05.922Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
It is very possible that this would make it worse than anticipated, but a quick reminder to anyone afraid ice melting will create a positive feedback loop:
The main thing that takes CO2 out of the atmosphere is the ocean. Adding more water will mean more CO2 can dissolve. This is the main reason why in the past, the climate always returned from getting too hot or too cold.
Replies from: Baughn↑ comment by Baughn · 2014-07-08T11:35:29.989Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
About 2.5% of the planet's water is freshwater; about 99% of that freshwater is ice, so considering only freshwater ice, if it all melts we'd have about 2.5% more CO2 capacity. There's also such a thing as seawater ice (see: North pole), but it doesn't add that much volume to the system, overall.
Any expansion in CO2 capacity due to melting ice will be completely dwarfed by other effects.
Replies from: ChristianKl↑ comment by ChristianKl · 2014-07-17T11:53:41.365Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Without knowing how much CO2 is stored in the sea it's difficult to say whether 2.5% more CO2 capacity is much or very little.
I think the key question is: How much methane/CO2 is a liter of water in the state of ice storing and how much is the average liter of sea water storing.
comment by John_Maxwell (John_Maxwell_IV) · 2014-07-08T04:34:42.026Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Could we harvest the methane out of the arctic and use it as fuel instead of letting it escape? Relevant NY Times.
Replies from: Baughncomment by ChristianKl · 2014-07-17T11:57:44.544Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
The facts section states that the millions of tons of methane trapped in the Arctic ice are a factor not commonly taken into account in future climate models
So basically the article argues that the IPCC is stupid enough not to account for methane that's released from Arctic ice in their models. Then because the mainstream climate scientists are so wrong in their science, we should do something about global warming?
Replies from: polymathwannabe↑ comment by polymathwannabe · 2014-07-17T12:16:36.195Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I move to taboo "mainstream." It's being so often used as a swear word now that it has lost its meaning.
Replies from: ChristianKl↑ comment by ChristianKl · 2014-07-17T12:18:26.610Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
In that case the mainstream opinion on climate change is the IPCC opinion.
comment by turchin · 2014-07-13T12:33:34.432Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
This is collective blog devoted to the risk of Arctic methane release. They consider it existential risk in near term (2040-2050) http://arctic-news.blogspot.ru/
Replies from: None