Arctic heat wave -- gloom and doom!?
According to Accuweather (http://www.accuweather.com/news-story.asp?article=8) it is supposed reach 85 to 95 degrees (F) in Canada's Northwest Territories this week!
That is permafrost territory.
Permafrost territory is methane hydrate territory.
Melting permafrost releases methane into the atmosphere -- lots of methane!* -- and methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide ever dreamed of being. The only reason methane is rarely in the news as a greenhouse gas is that there is much less of it in the atmosphere than there is of CO2. But I'm a little bit concerned here.
* Note: How much methane? One cubic meter of methane hydrate releases more than 60 cubic meters of methane gas (at Standard Temperature and Pressure). Nobody really knows how much methane is stored in the Arctic ice, but the general consensus is that methane hydrate is the biggest reservoir of hydrocarbons of any kind on the planet. (Much of it is on the continental shelf.)
That is permafrost territory.
Permafrost territory is methane hydrate territory.
Melting permafrost releases methane into the atmosphere -- lots of methane!* -- and methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide ever dreamed of being. The only reason methane is rarely in the news as a greenhouse gas is that there is much less of it in the atmosphere than there is of CO2. But I'm a little bit concerned here.
* Note: How much methane? One cubic meter of methane hydrate releases more than 60 cubic meters of methane gas (at Standard Temperature and Pressure). Nobody really knows how much methane is stored in the Arctic ice, but the general consensus is that methane hydrate is the biggest reservoir of hydrocarbons of any kind on the planet. (Much of it is on the continental shelf.)