Scientists discover vast methane plumes escaping from Arctic seafloor

A new article with recent data on what's currently going on in the arctic. The article has some great pictures and the research is still in progress. Someone here, my apologies for forgetting his username but he has a caveman avatar) has a thread on methane from the oceans is much more knowledgeable than me.

Article Excerpt:

On July 22, 2014, chief scientist Örjan Gustafsson of the University of Stockholm wrote about the methane mega flare event in his blog. He wrote:

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 meter 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 pressure and low temperature] 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 warm Atlantic water, with a core at depths of 200–600 meters 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 meters. During the preceding 48 hours 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.

While not as long-lasting in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, methane is much more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat. Glaciologist Jason Box, in a recent and fascinating blog post (Is the climate dragon awakening?) said:

Atmospheric methane release is a much bigger problem than atmospheric carbon dioxide release, since methane is ~20 times more powerful greenhouse gas.

earthsky.org...

a reply to: Caver78

Yeah, something is going on in the ARCTIC. I just posted a thread the other day about how researchers discovered waves there for the first time.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Well, it is a finite source so it will stop.

People talk about methane release as if its something weird, but its quite natural. Think about all the coal deposits all over the earth, they are whats left of organic matter thats been buried for millions of years, each of those deposits must have produced monstrous amounts of methane in times gone by.

I think methane release is a sign that everything is just fine. In fact if it didn't gently release itself it would eventually erupt in a massive explosion!
Lets be grateful it releasing itself in nice gentle bubbles.

originally posted by: lostbook
a reply to: Caver78

Yeah, something is going on in the ARCTIC. I just posted a thread the other day about how researchers discovered waves there for the first time.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

First time THEY have discovered them, it doesn't mean its the first time there's been waves there.

originally posted by: VoidHawk
Well, it is a finite source so it will stop.

There is 2,000-4000 GigaTons of methane in the oceans.

People talk about methane release as if its something weird, but its quite natural. Think about all the coal deposits all over the earth, they are whats left of organic matter thats been buried for millions of years, each of those deposits must have produced monstrous amounts of methane in times gone by.

You didn't bother to read the article. This is clathrates stored at the bottom of the ocean that has been pretty well locked into it's position for a very long time. What naturally bubbles is not what is occuring right now. If that were the case atmospheric methane levels would not be rising, which they most definitely are.

I think methane release is a sign that everything is just fine. In fact if it didn't gently release itself it would eventually erupt in a massive explosion!
Lets be grateful it releasing itself in nice gentle bubbles.

Then you're ignorant. It's a sign that we're destabilizing the currents in the ocean, and creating very dangerous conditions for the continued habitat of the species on this planet.

There is no "gentle release" going on, and in fact at the current rate of acceleration, it's estimated that a giant fireball could sweep the global in 2-3 decades. Please educate yourself.

Link
Link

originally posted by: pl3bscheese
it's estimated that a giant fireball could sweep the global in 2-3 decades. Please educate yourself.

LOL just like Gores "We'll be under water in 15 years"
Where's the water?

ETA: Ya know, we got NASA telling us their plans for the coming CENTURY, corporations making plans for the coming century, etc etc etc, and we got people like you telling us to read articles that threaten us with "giant global fireballs"

STOP READING ARTICLES DUDE!

Don't worry about the fireball-We 'll all be long dead before that happens-when the atmosphere reaches a certain % of methane,most life on Earth will die.
Its happened before-during the Permian triassic extinction event.
One of its causes was:

a runaway greenhouse effect triggered by sudden release of methane from the sea floor due to methane clathrate dissociation or methane-producing microbes

en.wikipedia.org...

And the permafrost which holds collosal amounts of methane IS melting at a worrying rate at this point in time.Those weird holes in Siberia are just the latest known about warnings that this is happening:

thinkprogress.org...

www.planetextinction.com...

-If the oceans warm up just a few degrees,they will release a huge amount of methane and we will die.
It ain't a joke.

ii think the recent bottomless holes in the Russian Tundra are connected with the Methane volcanoes on the Arctic seabed

but something beneath the crustal plate is causing the methane to migrate to the surface...


is there a very large 'hot spot' of the Mantle convection current causing the Arctic to out-gas all those formerly trapped pockets of methane under the Ice?

my brain says Yes... we just need the scientific community to voice Its theory

Current events are getting to creepy for words

Cant wait...

originally posted by: pl3bscheese
It's a sign that we're destabilizing the currents in the ocean, and creating very dangerous conditions for the continued habitat of the species on this planet.

Why does all this have to be caused by us?
Where is the evidence to show that this isn't part of the natural cycles our planet goes through?

a reply to: ChaosComplex

The science. We have had understanding of the natural sciences for decades, and predicted this happening. Observation matches the theories and predictons.

methane why is anyone worried by this its free power ,same as thermal vents ,or anywhere volcanic we could tap power from,,yellow stone park free power,hawaii has plenty of free power from the volcanic activity there,,we could be using these unused resources

originally posted by: stuthealien
methane why is anyone worried by this its free power ,same as thermal vents ,or anywhere volcanic we could tap power from,,yellow stone park free power,hawaii has plenty of free power from the volcanic activity there,,we could be using these unused resources

Only if it is harvestable from the sea floor-and it won't be if the sea warms by just a few degrees-It has only taken +3 degrees for the problems to begin in Siberia,if the ocean warms up just a tad,all that methane goes into the air and we die.

Created by man or nature herself,still damn scary...Not much folks could do to fight to survive against that scenario.

We must hope fate deals us humans a lucky hand,because I doubt there is much we can do if that slight temperature rise occurs,as it easily could.

originally posted by: pl3bscheese
Then you're ignorant. It's a sign that we're destabilizing the currents in the ocean, and creating very dangerous conditions for the continued habitat of the species on this planet.

There is no "gentle release" going on, and in fact at the current rate of acceleration, it's estimated that a giant fireball could sweep the global in 2-3 decades. Please educate yourself.

Y'know that is interesting, since it could explain (assuming these true) some passages in the Bible:

2 Peter 3:10
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

2 Peter 3:12
as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.

I'd never thought about it this way, but us speeding that coming destruction would fit AGW rather literally.

originally posted by: stuthealien
methane why is anyone worried by this its free power ,same as thermal vents ,or anywhere volcanic we could tap power from,,yellow stone park free power,hawaii has plenty of free power from the volcanic activity there,,we could be using these unused resources

or else use air scrubbers to extract the CO2, compress it for generations--- same thing with methane molecules which seem to be a lot more abundant than thought and seeping into the atmosphere at a greater rate than thought by scientists,
lets collect the methane in the air and use it for fuel at the recently closed, coal-fired electrical generating plants

sure... the start up infrastructure might be costly but it will 'grab' energy out of the air instead of drilling-fracking-mining for that energy source----right ?!

originally posted by: St Udio
ii think the recent bottomless holes in the Russian Tundra are connected with the Methane volcanoes on the Arctic seabed

but something beneath the crustal plate is causing the methane to migrate to the surface...


is there a very large 'hot spot' of the Mantle convection current causing the Arctic to out-gas all those formerly trapped pockets of methane under the Ice?

my brain says Yes... we just need the scientific community to voice Its theory

There was an article somewhere about this in the Antarctic Ocean...gotta scamper off and find it! They haven't said the same about the Arctic Ocean, Beaufort Sea to the north atlantic.........yet.

a reply to: St Udio

I can only hope! Beats the way we're going about things currently.

originally posted by: Caver78

my brain says Yes... we just need the scientific community to voice Its theory

There was an article somewhere about this in the Antarctic Ocean...gotta scamper off and find it! They haven't said the same about the Arctic Ocean, Beaufort Sea to the north atlantic.........yet.

hope you find it... because it's my viewpoint that the scientific community is way-behind and/or afraid to speculate

the whole planet is one huge (4 billion year old) energy-fuel producer or energy sink... how could that be? after 4 billion years the methane-oil-hydrocarbons should have been exhausted instead of being released like from a virgin source

They are reversing their opinion on the oceans being an energy sink...found this looking for the other article. Know it's not the geographic region I was looking for, but still hunting! LOL

news.discovery.com...


Excerpt:
THE GIST
Lava injected into deep sea sediments is baking sediments and driving out greenhouse gases.

The discovery reverses what was thought of as a carbon sink into a carbon source.

Ancient versions of the same situation have been blamed for past global climate changes.

One of the places where Nature was thought to suck up and bury atmospheric carbon may actually be doing just the opposite, according to new research on the volcanics of deep-sea ridges.

Seismic profiles of the rifting Guaymas Basin in the Gulf of California show molten rock from a deep-sea ridge squeezing far and wide as "sills" of magma into the layers of ocean floor sediments. The sediments, which are loaded with organic debris, are baked by the magma and so release vast amounts of greenhouse gases.

Id beg to differ....on your word ...we....how is it that its always ....WE....that are doing the destabilising.....
Somehow I think climate warming is caused by far greater forces than what puny ....WE....are up to....