'We're f*****': Climate change will be catastrophic for mankind after study reveals methane leaking from the Arctic Ocean, scientist warns
- Claim was made by Dr Jason Box about a study at Stockholm University
- Methane is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat
- Scientists believed bubbles would dissolve before they reached surface
- But the study found large amounts of leaked methane in the Arctic
- 'I may escape a lot of this,' Dr Box told Motherboard, 'but my daughter might not. She's three years old'
The planet is 'f**cked' after scientists found huge plumes of deadly methane escaping from the seafloor.
This is according to Dr Jason Box who claims that methane will be the main driver of climate change if it escapes into the atmosphere.
The scientist, based at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, tweeted the provocative statement after a Swedish study found methane leaking beneath the Arctic.
Some of this methane which is over 20 times more potent than CO2 at trapping heat - is now making it to the ocean's surface.
The leaking gas from the seafloor may have its origins in collapsing clusters of methane trapped in frozen water due to high pressure and low temperature.
Leaking gas from the seafloor may have its origins in collapsing clusters of methane trapped in frozen water due to high pressure and low temperature. Pictured are methane bubbles escaping from a lake in Alaska
WHY IS METHANE A PROBLEM?
Methane is the second-largest greenhouse gas contributor to climate change.
The gas is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat and is currently being targeted by government in an attempt to mitigate global warming.
Methane pollution has declined by 11 per cent since 1990 even as the governments has pushed for greater use of natural gas.
But the longer view on methane pollution show that it will rise. The Obama administration points to studies that show that methane pollution is projected to increase to a level equivalent to over 620 million tonnes of carbon dioxide pollution in 2030, if no action is taken.
'We're on a trajectory to an unmanageable heating scenario, and we need to get off it,' Dr Box told Brian Merchant at Motherboard
'We're f**ked at a certain point, right? It just becomes unmanageable. The climate dragon is being poked, and eventually the dragon becomes pissed off enough to trash the place.'
The conventional thought is that the bubbles would be dissolved before they reached the surface and that microorganisms would consume that methane.
But Dr Box said if the plumes are making it to the surface, there's a new source of heat-trapping gases that the planet needs to worry about.
This, he claims, is particularly disturbing because the Arctic is warming faster than nearly anywhere else on Earth.
His comments follow research in May which found that freshwater sources may be an unrealised source of methane.
Unlike carbon dioxide, which is highly soluble in water, methane exists in two forms in these freshwater sources: as a dissolved gas and encapsulated in bubbles that rise from sediments.
Full Article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2719727/Were-f-ked-Climate-change-catastrophe-mankind-study-shows-methane-leaking-Arctic-Ocean-scientist-warns.html
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Notice the Republican climate change deniers went from outright, faux-science propaganda bullshit to their new flash card "We're not scientists" (a.k.a. "We have no fucking clue but must continue to pander to willfully ignorant jerks!")
All the while, its political base insanely supports the legislator pimp/whores for the profiteer-killers of the earth's ecosystems and thinks itself to actually be PRO-LIFE!
If President Obama suddenly declared GCC was a fraud, the right-wing morons would be calling him a liar and demanding clean-air standard reforms!
I frequently wish Obama would hold a press conference announcing that "people shouldn't eat shit because it's unhealthy."
I can imagine the bumper stickers on Tea Party vehicles
"REAL AMERICANS DON'T FLUSH."
Another cheap shot/personal attack from the master.
No fuckin' hint of a factual rebuttal just attack the messenger.
And of course, you're always right
EXTREME RIGHT.
This is a scientist ? He sounds more like a fanatic , hell bent on rabble rousing .
Actually, we do have the technology...that's wasn't the problem.
This explains it much better:
Key Device In BP Oil Spill Faulted By Safety Board; Still Poses Ris...