Topic: methane clathrates - climate changers?

[damienpaul]

KILLER IN OUR MIDST

Methane Catastrophes in Earth's Past and Near Future

This book is about methane catastrophe. Methane catastrophes have occurred several times in Earth's history, and when they have occurred, they have sometimes caused abrupt changes in the history of life, and at least one significant extinction. That extinction, at the end of the Permian Period 250 million years ago, is the greatest in the history of life. More than 90% of the then-existing species perished, and the course of life on Earth was altered forever.

If a methane catastrophe were to happen in the near future, it is likely that not only would a considerable percentage of existing plants and animals be killed off, but a large percentage of the human population as well, as a result of the climate change and significantly more hostile environmental conditions. Yet we are heading toward such a catastrophe. It will happen because we continue to warm the planet by our burning of carbon fuels, and particularly fossil fuels. It is against the background of global warming that a methane catastrophe will take place.

Full article here

Recent report: Climate Change article

This type of phenomena also appears in a novel "Mother of Storms" - a review can be found here

Methane Clathrates are a major potential source of any such disaster, here is a Wikipedia article of methane clathrates.? These are essentially water ice, with substantial amounts of methane within its crystal structure.


Source: Wikipedia


Source: Wikipedia

Additional resources from the United States Geological Survey

a bit of googling revealed an effect of global warming on these structures:

Access the article by the link below:

METHANE CLATHRATE OUTGASSING AND ANOXIC EXPANSION IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN DEEPS DUE TO GLOBAL WARMING

It appears that an immediate effect is to de-oxygenate parts of the ocean and potentially release methane - a chemical far worse than CO2 in terms of its greenhouse effects.

Methane and climate change
Swamp thing or monster of the deep?

Apr 17th 2003 | NICE
From The Economist print edition
A discussion about the end of the last ice age has repercussions for today's climate

The Economist

Was past climate change influenced from swamps, outgassing of clathrates or both?

[piersdad]

recent tv news showed some people placing a rod into the thawing ground and lighting the methane that was emitted from the hole they made
 and the resulting flame was some meters tall
so the defrosting of the siberiam permafrost is of great concern