[Peakoil] No going back for Arctic

[Antony Broughton Barry]

On 13/09/2012, at 1:14 PM, Jenny Goldie wrote:

> There are already reports of  extensive methane releases from collapsing subsea permafrost on the East Siberian Arctic Shelf (ESAS). Methane is, of course, a potent greenhouse gas. Now a study published in the journal Nature reveals that a less studied form of permafrost, Yedoma, along the 7000 km coast of northern Siberia, is releasing ten times more carbon into the Arctic Ocean than previously thought. Not only is the Yedoma permafrost thawing in the higher temperatures, it is also subject to enhanced wave and wind erosion brought on by the longer ice-free season, causing it to collapse and release even more methane.


The Clathrate gun hypothesis suggests that the results can be catastrophic and it is a possible explanation of the massive permian extinctions. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis

Sonme recent reports -

'Fountains' of methane 1,000m across erupt from Arctic ice - a ...

http://article.wn.com/view/2012/08/29/Antarctic_methane_could_worsen_global_warming_scientists_d/

And a visual demonstration http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-05/23/arctic-methane

Tony