Global Warming 'Time Bomb' (Permafrost Thawing Far Higher Than Thought)

[Hissyspit]

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0907-07.htm

Published on Thursday, September 7, 2006 by the Associated Press
Scientists Find New Global Warming 'Time Bomb’
by Seth Borenstein

WASHINGTON - Global warming gases trapped in the soil are bubbling out of the thawing permafrost in amounts far higher than previously thought and may trigger what researchers warn is a climate time bomb.

Methane - a greenhouse gas 23 times more powerful than carbon dioxide - is being released from the permafrost at a rate five times faster than thought, according to a study being published today in the journal Nature. The findings are based on new, more accurate measuring techniques.

‘‘The effects can be huge,’’ said lead author Katey Walter of the University of Alaska at Fairbanks said. ‘‘It’s coming out a lot and there’s a lot more to come out.’’

Scientists worry about a global warming vicious cycle that was not part of their already gloomy climate forecast: Warming already under way thaws permafrost, soil that has been continuously frozen for thousands of years. Thawed permafrost releases methane and carbon dioxide. Those gases reach the atmosphere and help trap heat on Earth in the greenhouse effect. The trapped heat thaws more permafrost and so on.

‘‘The higher the temperature gets, the more permafrost we melt, the more tendency it is to become a more vicious cycle,’’ said Chris Field, director of global ecology at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, who was not part of the study. ‘‘That’s the thing that is scary about this whole thing. There are lots of mechanisms that tend to be self-perpetuating and relatively few that tend to shut it off.’’

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[nam78_two]

1. This should make it to the greatest page

I don't understand why Global warming stuff rarely makes it to the greatest page when there are usually 10 threads about the same thing ;) :shrug:
Anyway K& R from me.

[longship]

3. Agreed. Please put on Front Page.

:kick:

[mom cat]

9. This is far more important than a propaganda mini-series.

MY OTHER PLANET IS NOT READY YET!

[Dead_Parrot]

5. It's too big...

Most people can't get their heads around the scale of the problem. Like Stalin said:

"A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic."

The concept of billions of deaths and the loss of millions of species is just too abstract to contemplate.

[file83]

2. I watched "Inconvenient Truth" for the 3rd time today...

...Mother Earth is about to wake us all the hell up, whether we like it or not.

[Hissyspit]

4. Earth overheats...

The Twilight Zone "The Midnight Sun" - Aired 1961

http://www.scifilm.org/tv/tz/twilightzone3-10.html

"Knocked out of its elliptical orbit and heading closer towards the sun, the Earth is in the grip of never-ending, sweltering heat. After most panicked citizens have left the city in search of colder climates, two women choose to remain in the New York City hotel they've long resided in to await their inevitable end. These two women, namely Norma (Lois Nettleton) and her landlady Mrs. Bronson (Betty Garde), struggle to maintain their grasp on sanity in a world gone insane with constant heat...heat enough to send anyone off their rockers. Soon news reports warning of cranks and looters roaming the city begin as sure enough Norma and Mrs. Bronson find they too have to deal with one such desperate intruder (Tom Reese). Is there any escape or is this the end?

It's the end of the world or one possible version of it. How much one enjoys this depends on how much tolerance one has for this type of vision, a vision of the end of things. Here we see desperation: desperation to survive, desperation to retain one's identity and sanity from the grip of stifling, unending heat, desperation caused by lack of adequate food and water, and finally the desperation caused by having no real defense against the thing that most threatens them all. Here, in terms of how such an extraordinary situation might affect people, what is presented seems more plausible and believable than most making this fascinating to watch.

Steeped in an atmosphere of despair, desperation and impending doom, this episode doesn't offer much that most will enjoy watching yet it comes across as real. Yes it's bleak but what else would one expect the end of the world to be?"

[Dogmudgeon]

7. The Day The Earth Caught Fire also touched on GW issues

The weather changes, droughts, famines in other countries, etc.

And the book went into more detail; it's downright spooky how closely some of it is echoed by modern, non-fiction expectations of the effects of global warming.

--p!

[OneBlueSky]

6. we are so fucked . . .

well, maybe not us . . . but certainly our children and grandchildren . . .

as well as many other species now on the planet that likely won't be 100 years from now -- if not much sooner . . .

[Buzz Clik]

8. A little perspective is in order:

Please go here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2079851

The bottom line is that the impact of methane releases from the permafrost will be small. Any increase in greenhouse gases is bad news, but this isn't nearly as bad as it's being portrayed.

[Viking12]

10. Yawn.

Directly from the last paragraph of Nature article:

"Though the recent increase in flux due to lake expansion is modest relative to anthropogenic emissions, the 500 Gt of labile Pleistocene-aged C in ice-rich yedoma permafrost could greatly intensify the positive feedback to high-latitude warming by releasing tens of thousands of teragrams of CH4 through ebullition from thermokarst lakes if northeast Siberia continues to warm in the future, as projected"

[Hissyspit]

11. Exponentiality. Tipping Point.

Lots of OTHER perspective to consider, too.

By the way, I love your signature line quote.

[Buzz Clik]

13. Cumulative blows, for sure.

If we don't take the threat seriously, we will be in deep trouble in years to come.

But let's keep all the facts on the table.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

14. Just cover the entire region with plastic and ductape

Capture the methane for use as natural gas.

BTW, this is a joke, even though the news is serious.:grouphug: