Release of methane gas from the seafloor in the Southern Hemisphere
Yikes.
"Gas hydrate is an ice-like substance formed by water and methane at depths of several hundred metres at the bottom of our oceans at high pressure and low temperatures. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, roughly 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide, and it is estimated that methane frozen in these sediments constitute the largest organic carbon reservoir on Earth. The fact that methane gas has now started leaking out through gas hydrate dissociation is not good news for the climate."
Some point that is not very clear if we read the article shallowly: the methane is not yet leaked to the ocean's surface, for now it is just melted, then dissolved into the water, and microorganisms are converting it to CO2, which adds a huge new source of CO2 for our already overloaded system.
I wonder how far away in the future is the point where the methane would actually raise quicker than bacteria are able to process it.
I wonder if there is potential for enough methane hydrate turning gaseous that it drives a top to bottom current, bringing warm surface water to greater depths and thus creating a runaway effect where the ocean would seem to be boiling violently from all the methane being released. I had a nightmare about this the other day after seeing the tundra pits, no idea if this is remotely feasible
This mechanism and permafrost melt are two of the main feedback loops associated with non-anthropogenic warming. Whether they're properly accounted for in climate models is a key question.
Do we have historic evidence of runaway methane induced warming? It seems crazy that we are seeing these effects, but have nothing(?) in the geological records of these cataclysmic events
We already have a known source of methane emissions that is ever increasing: cattle. Cows and swine account for several metric tons of emissions every year, factory farming accounting for most of it. Reducing this is in most people's control.
OK, so there are some positive feedback loops for global warming. As temperature rises, that causes other effects that in turn warms the climate even more.
But I can't see any fundamental reason that such side effects should add to the warming. It seems just as likely that they would counteract it. It's not like there is any plan behind it. In Physics, whatever happens happens.
So... I wonder if there is also a set of counteracting global warming side effects that don't get reported much, since that isn't scary? Or is there some fundamental reinforcement mechanism here that I'm not seeing?
Well at least the SpaceX Raptor engines won't be running out of fuel anytime soon.
Time to release the moratorium on ocean fertilization?
Atmospheric methane removal seems doable, maybe a prototype for CO2 removal. It's easier because it doesn't have to be buried: it could just be burned to convert to CO2 with a much smaller warming impact.
Screwed, we are.
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