Bad signs on methane

[Mr. Premise]

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

January 8, 2007 -- The environmental "surge" you're not hearing anything about.

According to U.S. maritime industry sources, tanker captains are reporting an increase in onboard alarms from hazard sensors designed to detect hydrocarbon gas leaks and, specifically, methane leaks. However, the leaks are not emanating from cargo holds or pump rooms but from continental shelves venting increasing amounts of trapped methane into the atmosphere. With rising ocean temperatures, methane is increasingly escaping from deep ocean floors. Methane is also 21 more times capable of trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide.

In fact, one of the major sources for increased methane venting is the Hudson Submarine Canyon, which extends into the Atlantic 400 miles from the New York-New Jersey harbor. Another location experiencing increased venting is the Santa Barbara Channel on the California coast.

Meanwhile, a strong natural gas odor was reported this morning in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Jersey City, Weehawken, and Newark. Last August, a similar unexplained gas odor sent people to the hospital in Staten Island and Queens. Although methane is odorless, natural methane venting is often accompanied by the venting of acrid hydrogen sulfide, a byproduct of bacterial decomposition.

 

[rs]

Interesting. Everyone has been talking about just how warm it all is. Here in US, the east coast has had an unbelievably mild winter. So far, it has been blamed more on El Nino or "natural cycles" (whatever the heck that means...) rather than global warming.

I have to believe that releasing methane into an oxygen rich environment creates an unstable mixture. If this methane is venting into the atmosphere over the oceans, what happens when there is a thunderstorm over the ocean? Won't the methane tend to burn?

Perhaps it is so warm because we have a literal global heating effect from the burning of all that methane...

 

[Nienna]

I have to believe that releasing methane into an oxygen rich environment creates an unstable mixture. If this methane is venting into the atmosphere over the oceans, what happens when there is a thunderstorm over the ocean? Won't the methane tend to burn?

I remember seeing a documentary on TV about methane explosions on a lake in another country. So I googled "methane explosions + lake" and came up with this:

(You can read the whole article here)

[...]If the phenomenon is not controlled, a veritable explosion of a mixture of gas and water takes place at the surface. This is exactly what happens when you uncork a bottle of champagne or lemonade : by causing pressure to fall inside the bottle, bubbles of dissolved gas form suddenly and rise to the surface, drawing liquid up with them.

It is also, on a vast scale, what caused the Lake Nyos (Cameroon) catastrophe on the night of 21 August 1986. The saturation limit was exceeded ; the ex-solution process was triggered off and spread to the whole lake through a chain reaction. A gas explosion threw a column of water more than 80 m high into the air. The enormous quantity of carbon dioxide thus liberated, being denser than air, then 'flowed' into the surrounding valleys and asphyxiated all forms of life as far as 30 km from the lake. 1800 people thus died in this catastrophe.

Some years after this disaster, our company proposed a system designed to rid Lake Nyos of its deadly gas. This was to reproduce, in a controlled fashion, the phenomenon of ex-solution and in so doing release into the atmosphere harmless quantities of carbon dioxide gas.

[....]The recent volcano-tectonic crisis at the Nyiragongo volcano which destroyed part of the town of Goma in January 2002 has highlighted a new risk factor due to the presence of dissolved gas in the depths of Lake Kivu (cf. Publication in Appendix).


Before this disaster the risks of gas emanations - and a fortiori of a cataclysmic explosion - caused by a natural destabilisation of the lake would have been thought infinitely small. This is no longer the case : the hypothesis of a magmatic intrusion - even a volcanic eruption in the depth itself of the lake - can no longer be totally excluded.

[....]Note that the quantity of dissolved gas in Lake Kivu is a thousand times greater than in Lake Nyos, which caused 1800 victims in 1986 in a sparcely populated region of Cameroon. If a real 'overturning' of the lake occurred it would be the whole area of Kivu which would be threatened : Goma, Gisenyi, Bukavu, Cyangugu, even Bujumbura. The gas cloud could cover the areas around the lake and flow even as far as Lake Tanganyika, 700 m below Bukavu. A poulation of around two million is living under permanent threat.

[....]The type of event which could cause a disturbance large enough to trigger off, in the lake, an 'avalanche' type gas explosion has to contain a considerable amount of energy. This could be the case with a volcanic eruption at a medium depth. One is not trying to spread panic but, to repeat, the possibility of such a disaster is not an imaginary scenario. Even if the risk is probably quite slight, one has to take into account the consequences, which would be nothing short of cataclysmic.
We there think that it is important to seriously study this new type of risk and that it would be wise to set up a basic alarm system at the lake which would indicate the appearance of any movement in the liquid mass of the lake waters.

Then, there is this at Science Daily which shows that methane is also significant in global warming.

Methane Flux From Arctic Tundras: It's The Hydrology, Stupid!
Science Daily — Many fear that, in the coming years, large amounts of methane will be released into the atmosphere. Methane is a much stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide and global warming could lead to melting of the arctic tundras, setting free large volumes of methane, scientists have reported at the European Geosciences Union's General Assembly being held in Vienna, Austria. This would in its turn increase global warming.

Methane fluxes from the arctic permafrost areas attract scientific attention because the release of this powerful greenhouse gas may act as a positive feedback to climate warming. Methane release, generally, is enhanced by increasing the metabolic activity of methane bacteria in warmer arctic soils, or by the release of methane from melting permafrost.

However, research in the Northeast Siberian tundra has shown the importance of floodplain hydrology. The floodplains of arctic lowland rivers are major methane sources, where methane fluxes may be 5 times as high as in non-flooded tundra bogs. Moreover, these fluxes are very sensitive to river discharge fluctuations and the incidence of river floods. During a two year field campaign the drier year resulted in a 75% reduction of the methane flux. Currently, both air temperature and river discharges are rising significantly in the arctic.

Oral Presentation: Ko Van Huissteden, Dolaman, A.J., Maximov, T.C. Floodplain hydrology and spatial/temporal variation of methane fluxes inarctic tundra, North East Siberia.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by European Geosciences Union.

 

[Laura]

Ya'll oughta read "Mother of Storms" which talks about a huge release of methane into the atmosphere that causes a "global superstorm." Really freaky book (also creepy in a lot of other ways.)

 

[Anders]

Ya'll oughta read "Mother of Storms" which talks about a huge release of methane into the atmosphere that causes a "global superstorm." Really freaky book (also creepy in a lot of other ways.)

I just read this book as Laura recommended it some time ago in connection with the film 'The day after tomorrow'. John Barnes seems to have done a bit of research into the trapped methane on the ocean floor. I have yet to check to verify some of the things he says about methane.

A freaky book indeed!


To know more about methane clathrates see: http://www.cassiopedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Methane_clathrate

Recent estimates constrained by direct sampling suggest the global inventory lies between 1-5×1015 m³.[9] This estimate, corresponding to 500-2500 gigatonnes carbon (GtC), is smaller than the 5000 GtC estimated for all other fossil fuel reserves but substantially larger than the ~230 GtC estimated for other natural gas sources.[9][11] The permafrost reservoir has been estimated at about 400 GtC in the Arctic,[12] but no estimates have been made of possible Antarctic reservoirs.

The amount of Methane trapped is staggering. :o

edit: Another site that explains more indepth about methane clathrates and possible future scenarios with a view to past scenarios is found here: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2005/12/methane-hydrates-and-global-warming/

 

[aurora]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5321046.stm
Methane bubbles climate trouble
Another link for for the effect of methane.
" Methane flux from thaw lakes in our study region may be five times greater than previously estimated."
Katey Walker and colleagues

 

[1peacelover]

Just came across this article that is in sync with this topic.

I have to believe that releasing methane into an oxygen rich environment creates an unstable mixture. If this methane is venting into the atmosphere over the oceans, what happens when there is a thunderstorm over the ocean? Won't the methane tend to burn?

Scientists spot hundreds of methane plumes along US East Coast

A survey of the Atlantic Coast has detected hundreds of gas plumes – almost certainly methane – seeping up from the ocean floor.

In an unexpected discovery, hundreds of gas plumes bubbling up from the seafloor were spotted during a sweeping survey of the U.S. Atlantic Coast.

Even though ocean explorers have yet to test the gas, the bubbles are almost certainly methane, researchers report today (Aug. 24) in the journal Nature Geoscience.

"We don't know of any explanation that fits as well as methane," said lead study author Adam Skarke, a geologist at Mississippi State University in Mississippi State.

Read the rest @ http://news360.com/article/254393070#

 

[Gawan]

Here would also be a n article on sott about it:

Hundreds of methane plumes erupting along U.S. Atlantic coast and especially the comment:

See also: Rare sei whale seen off Cornwall's coast in Penzance, UK

Rare 45-foot sei whale dies in Virginia river

Any connection?

 

[Alkhemist]

Here would also be a n article on sott about it:

Hundreds of methane plumes erupting along U.S. Atlantic coast and especially the comment:

See also: Rare sei whale seen off Cornwall's coast in Penzance, UK

Rare 45-foot sei whale dies in Virginia river

Any connection?

I get "Access Error: Access Denied" when I click on the first link.

 

[Bobo08]

I got this in my mail box today:

10 months to save the world

Dear Avaaz community,

This may be the most important email I've ever written to you.

Some time ago, a scientist went on his biannual tour of the Russian arctic ocean, checking for toxic plumes of methane gas bubbling up from the ocean. He'd previously seen hundreds of these plumes, about a meter wide each, emitting gas 50 times more damaging to our climate than carbon dioxide. This time, as he came across the first plume, he couldn't believe it. It was a KILOMETER wide. A vast column of gas entering our atmosphere. He sailed on and found another a kilometer wide, and another, and another. Hundreds of them.

This could be what the experts warned us about. As the earth warms, it creates many "tipping points" that accelerate the warming out of control. Warming thaws the Arctic sea ice, destroying the giant white 'mirror' that reflects heat back into space, which massively heats up the ocean, and melts more ice, and so on. We spin out of control. In 2014 everything was off the charts -- it was the hottest year in recorded history.
[snip]

MORE INFORMATION:

2014 was the hottest year on record (Bloomberg)
_http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2014-hottest-year-on-record/

"Vast methane plumes escaping from the seafloor" discovered in Siberian Arctic Sea (Daily Kos)
_http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/28/1317252/--Vast-methane-plumes-escaping-from-the-seafloor-discovered-in-Siberian-Arctic-Sea#

Five Reasons We Need a New Global Agreement on Climate Change by 2015 (Switchboard NRDC)
_http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/jschmidt/five_reasons_we_need_a_new_glo.html

10 Signs the stars are aligning for a climate deal in Paris (The Guardian)
_http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/21/10-signs-stars-are-aligning-for-climate-deal-paris

The Arctic Ice “Death Spiral” (Slate)
_http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/05/28/arctic_sea_ice_global_warming_is_melting_more_ice_every_year.html

From the DailyKos link:

Vast methane plumes have been discovered boiling up from the seafloor of the Arctic ocean on the continental slope of the Laptev Sea by a dream team of international scientists. Over the last decade a warming tongue of Atlantic ocean water has been flowing along the Siberian Arctic ocean's continental slope destabilizing methane ice, hypothesize the team of Swedish, Russian and American scientists. The research team will take a series of measurements across the Siberian seas to attempt to understand and quantify the methane release and predict the effect of this powerful greenhouse gas on global and Arctic warming. Because the Siberian Arctic contains vast stores of methane ices and organic carbon that may be perturbed by the warming waters and Arctic climate, Arctic ocean and Siberian sea methane release could accelerate and intensify Arctic and global warming.

Örjan Gustafsson's blog post of this discovery gave me the chills.

So, what have we found in the first couple of days of methane-focused studies?

1) Our first observations of elevated methane levels, about ten times higher than in background seawater, were documented already as we climbed up the steep continental slope at stations in 500 and 250 m depth. This was somewhat of a surprise. While there has been much speculation of the vulnerability of regular marine hydrates (frozen methane formed due to high p and low T) along the Arctic rim, very few actual observations of methane releases due to collapsing Arctic upper slope marine hydrates have been made. ¨

It has recently been documented that a tongue of relatively varm Atlantic water, with a core at depths of 200–600 m may have warmed up some in recent years. As this Atlantic water, the last remnants of the Gulf Stream, propagates eastward along the upper slope of the East Siberian margin, our SWERUS-C3 program is hypothesizing that this heating may lead to destabilization of upper portion of the slope methane hydrates. This may be what we now for the first time are observing.

2) Using the mid-water sonar, we mapped out an area of several kilometers where bubbles were filling the water column from depths of 200 to 500 m. During the preceding 48 h we have performed station work in two areas on the shallow shelf with depths of 60-70m where we discovered over 100 new methane seep sites. SWERUS-C3 researchers have on earlier expeditions documented extensive venting of methane from the subsea system to the atmosphere over the East Siberian Arctic Shelf. On this Oden expedition we have gathered a strong team to assess these methane releases in greater detail than ever before to substantially improve our collective understanding of the methane sources and the functioning of the system. This is information that is crucial if we are to be able to provide scientific estimations of how these methane releases may develop in the future.

Here is the SWERUS press release on this discovery.

Just a week into the sampling program and SWERUS-C3 scientists have discovered vast methane plumes escaping from the seafloor of the Laptev continental slope. These early glimpses of what may be in store for a warming Arctic Ocean could help scientists project the future releases of the strong greenhouse gas methane from the Arctic Ocean.

”This was somewhat of a surprise,” writes chief scientist Örjan Gustafsson, Stockholm University, in his latest blog entry. He speculates that the leaking methane from the seafloor of the continental slope may have its origins in collapsing “methane hydrates,” clusters of methane trapped in frozen water due to high pressure and low temperature.

The discovery was made while the icebreaker Oden crosscut the Laptev Sea along a depth gradient from 1000m to just 100m following the continental slope upward to reach the shallow waters of the outer Laptev Sea Shelf. By use of acoustic techniques and geochemical analyses of water samples, the scientists found vast methane plumes escaping from the seafloor at depths between 500 m and 150 m. At several places, the methane “bubbles“ even rose to the ocean surface. What’s more, results of preliminary analyses of seawater samples pointed towards levels of dissolved methane 10–50 times higher than background levels.

“While there has been much speculation about the vulnerability of regular marine hydrates along the continental slopes of the Arctic rim, very few actual observations of methane releases due to collapsing marine hydrates on the Arctic slope have been made,” writes Örjan Gustafsson.

Örjan Gustafsson thinks that the mechanism behind the presence of methane seeps at these depths may have something to do with the ”tongue” of relatively warm Atlantic water, presumably intruding across the Arctic Ocean at 200–600 m depths.” Some evidence have shown that this water mass has recently become warmer. As this warm Atlantic water, the last remnants of the Gulf Stream, propagates eastward along the upper slope of the East Siberian margin, it may lead to destabilization of methane hydrates on the upper portion of the slope. This may be what we are now seeing for the first time,” writes Örjan Gustafsson.

SWERUS-C3 scientists could determine the depth from which methane plumes were bubbling up with the help of precise sonar instruments commonly used to map the bottom of the deep ocean and detect gas seeps in the water column. ”We mapped out an area of several kilometers where bubbles were filling the water column at depths of 200 to 500 m,” writes Örjan Gustafsson. Additional observations include the discovery of over 100 new methane seep sites in the shallower waters of the Laptev shelf (at 60–70m depth), a likely consequence of the thawing subsea permafrost.

 

[gdpetti]

Got no problem with most of your post Bobo08, but that link to '2014 hottest year on record' is a joke, right? The raw data shows it going down not up, thus the need for 'adjustments' as they call them on Wall Street, to make things go where you want them to. Take a look at this report on that farce, which is common govt science over the last century or two, or three or eons for that matter.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-02-01/hottest-year-record-think-again-meet-seasonally-adjusted-seasons

 

[Bobo08]

Hi Gdpetti,

Sorry for not being clear in my previous post. The links are from the email I got, which is standard global warming disinformation. Of course, I knew it's disinformation. That's why I inactivated the links. I just posted it for the methane data, which may have serious implications for the cooling scenario.