Not exact matches
«There's quite a
bit of uncertainty and disagreement
about what the actual leak rate is,» said Tom Moore, Western Regional Air Partnership Air Quality Program Manager for the Western States Air Resources Council in Fort Collins, Colo. «That makes it difficult to understand how much any particular regulation would reduce
methane leakage.»
I have posted on RealClimate
about 4 times in the past 5 years regarding the potential thaw of the methal hydrate deposits at the bottom of the oceans.I stated in my posts on your website that I believe firmly that those deposits are in quite a good
bit of danger of melting from climate change feedback mechanisms.On Nov 8th, ScienceDaily posted a huge new study on the PETM boundary 55 million years ago, and some key data on how the
methane at that point may very well have melted and contributed to the massive climate shift.I am an amateur who reads in the new a lot
about climate change.I'd now like to say «I told you so!!!»
There has been quite a
bit of worry
about what happens when the
methane hydrates on the Arctic shelf go blooie, but a factor not thought of by many is that since these hydrates are underwater, a fair amount of the
methane will never reach the surface, but will first go into solution in the sea water, and later be oxidized to CO2, hydrogen carbonate and carbonate ions.
For example, because the mass balance argument says nothing
about absolute numbers or attribution it may be that we are also — for example — destroying carbon - fixing plankton, reducing the breaking of waves and hence mechanical mixing with the upper ocean, releasing
methane in the tundra which was previously held by acid rain and which can now be converted to CO2, or it may be we are just seeing a deep current, a tiny
bit warmer than usual because of the MWP, heating deep ocean clathrate so that methanophage bacteria can devour it and give off CO2.
A couple of comments on
methane — first, there's a
bit of bad news
about it that is not well - realized.
When a new study
about methane comes out, the instinct at RC is a
bit too much on the cautious side, even if the relevant data (Shakova, Walter) is solid.
The Chicago Tribune story
about cow
methane that I linked to is a pretty good story (I found it quickly on Google and I bet there were other blogs and sites that did not cover cows so thoroughly), but for me it lacked the few
bits of information I've cited in order to give context to the issue.