Russian Scientist Discovers Giant Arctic Methane Plumes 236
thomst writes "Russian scientist Igor Semiletov of the International Arctic Research Centre at the University of Alaska Fairbanks revealed in an interview with The Independent that his team discovered 'powerful and impressive seeping structures (of Methane gas) more than 1,000 metres in diameter' during their survey of the Arctic Ocean earlier this year. 'I was most impressed by the sheer scale and the high density of the plumes. Over a relatively small area we found more than 100, but over a wider area there should be thousands of them,' Semiletov told The Independent's Steve Connor. This finding is important because methane is estimated to be 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, and it could indicate that global warming is about to accelerate dramatically."
The next question (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The next question (Score:4, Interesting)
Drilling for methane hydrate deposits is one of the 'unconventional' energy resources that's had a lot of attention paid to it in the last while. I believe the Japanese, amongst several others, are paying a lot of attention to it as there are some big deposits off their coast.
However, the relative 'tightness' (poor quality) of the sediment its found in makes it difficult to extract. It's a completely different situation compared to a conventional gas reservoir.
Ironically enough, the poor quality and relative depth of the sediment could be the thing that stops this being as bad as some people think it could be.
Re:Methane emissions not tied to modern warming (Score:5, Interesting)
So why not tap it and burn it off? it's a shallow sea cant they drill and start sucking?
Re:Methane emissions not tied to modern warming (Score:4, Interesting)
If methane was the harbinger of a climate apocalypse, the apocalypse should have happened long ago.
Re:Methane emissions not tied to modern warming (Score:4, Interesting)
If methane was the harbinger of a climate apocalypse, the apocalypse should have happened long ago.
The end of the ice age involved melting through a mile-thick sheet of ice. Much of this pooled up behind a gargantuan ice dam, and when it broke loose, it scoured much of the western United States off the map in a cataclysmic torrent that flowed all the way to the Pacific Ocean. That's not a "climate apocalypse"?