|
Post by moabiter on Jul 23, 2010 23:34:15 GMT -8
CH4 + 2O2 --> CO2 + 2H2O
|
|
|
Post by moabiter on Aug 5, 2010 8:12:34 GMT -8
There were quite a few floods, e.g. Tennessee, during this BP spill - and heavy rains.
|
|
|
Post by moabiter on Aug 5, 2010 8:16:10 GMT -8
One liter of methane clathrate solid would contain, on average, 168 liters of methane gas. Proof: The average methane clathrate hydrate composition is 1 mole of methane for every 5.75 moles of water. The observed density is around 0.9 g/cm3.[4] For one mole of methane, which has a molar mass of about 16.04 g (see Methane), we have 5.75 moles of water, with a molar mass of about 18.02 g (see Properties of water), so together for each mole of methane the clathrate complex has a mass of 16.04 g + 5.75 × 18.02 g = 119.65 g. The fractional contribution of methane to the mass is then equal to 16.04 g / 119.65 g = 0.134. The density is around 0.9 g/cm3, so one liter of methane clathrate has a mass of around 0.9 kg, and the mass of the methane contained therein is then about 0.134 × 0.9 kg = 0.1206 kg. At a density as a gas of 0.717 kg/m3 (at 0 °C; see the info box at Methane), that means a volume of 0.1206 / 0.717 m3 = 0.168 m3 = 168 L. Second: Methane is 20x worse than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. Source: www.communicationagents.com/sepp/2005/02/01/global_warming_methane_could_be_far_worse_than_carbon_dioxide.htmConclusion: Methane hydrates/clathrates is 168 times worse (I stated 160 times worse) than the greenhouse gas Methane Methane hydrates/clathrates in the areas where BP was drilling are 168 x 20 = 3360 times worse than the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide for the atmosphere. (also see the methane clathrate gun hypothesis)
|
|
|
Post by clone on Jan 26, 2011 0:37:07 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by clone on Jan 26, 2011 0:40:26 GMT -8
atmospheric methane
|
|
|
Post by clone on Apr 17, 2011 6:43:05 GMT -8
There sure seems to be a lot of precipitation lately.
|
|
|
Post by clone on May 21, 2011 21:19:45 GMT -8
Arctic Tundra to Shrink by 51 Percent - Monday, June 14, 2010 OSLO, Norway — By the year 2100, 51 percent of the tundra habitat in the Arctic will be gone after the tree line advances by as much as 500 km, says the Arctic Council in a report of International Polar Year findings released here in Oslo. www.canadiangeographic.ca/blog/posting.asp?ID=329
|
|
|
Post by clone on Jul 24, 2011 23:32:20 GMT -8
Paleoecologists suggest mass extinction due to huge methane release July 22, 2011 Prior to this research, most scientists have believed that the sudden extinction of nearly half of all life forms on the planet was due solely to the emissions from volcanic eruptions that were occurring in what was to become the Atlantic Ocean. Ruhl et al contend that instead, what happened, was that the small amount of atmospheric heating that occurred due to the exhaust from the volcanoes, caused the oceans to warm as well, leading to the melting of ice crystals at the bottom of the sea that were holding on to methane created by the millions of years of decomposing sea life. When the ice crystals melted, methane was released, which in turn caused the planet to warm even more, which led to more methane release in a chain reaction, that Ruhl says, was the real reason for the mass extinction that led to the next phase in world history, the rise of dinosaurs. www.physorg.com/news/2011-07-paleoecologists-mass-extinction-due-huge.html
|
|
|
Post by clone on Aug 17, 2011 10:51:25 GMT -8
Arctic permafrost thaw will boost carbon emissionsPosted: Aug 15, 2011 4:39 PM ET www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2011/08/15/science-carbon-sink-source-arctic.htmlMelting permafrost threatens Arctic housing projectsSunday Jun. 20, 2010 12:52 PM ET The hamlet of Tuktoyaktuk in the Northwest Territories is seen in this photo taken Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009MONTREAL — An Arctic community that has seen its fire hall sink and roads buckle in the melting permafrost is now shifting future building projects away from town. The effect of vanishing permafrost -- soil normally frozen year round -- is now being felt across Canada's North, and the Quebec village of Salluit is just one of many Arctic towns trying to adapt to an increasingly warmer climate. www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20100620/permafrost-arctic-100620/Melting ice has its downside for CanadaMay 31, 2011, 8:34 a.m. EDT Commentary: Transportation for many depends on permafrost PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. (MarketWatch) — The famed “Ice Road Truckers” might become the Muddy Road Muckers if a new climate-prediction study that looks at the future of Canada’s melting permafrost is right. And forget the Northwest Passage, at least for now. But new far-north shipping routes opening up might well take up the slack. We’ve heard a lot the past couple of years about how climate change/global warming might open up northern Canada to farming and increased shipping. Not much about the downside. A trio of geographers at UCLA have released a study published in the journal “Nature Climate Change” saying that in the next 50 years, many of those ice roads you may have seen on the popular History Channel series will be impassable as the permafrost melts (one memorable episode featured a driver apparently risking his life to haul a truckload of salty snacks over frozen lakes to oil drillers). www.marketwatch.com/story/melting-ice-has-its-downside-for-canada-2011-05-31Into the valley of Death rode the seven hundred Monday, August 8, 2011 It was a quiet little news story but it caught my attention. The Harper government has just laid off 700 Environment Canada workers—that’s a whopping 11 percent of the whole operation. Not surprisingly, the union representing the workers observes that the cuts have been ongoing through attrition (not replacing retiring workers) and that further cuts are in the works. To say that these cuts to Environment are ideological is an understatement. The Conservatives have long been opposed to funding protection and scientific research related to the environment. geraldmceachern.blogspot.com/2011/08/into-valley-of-death-rode-seven-hundred.html/Campbell+defend+oilsands+envoy/5264346/story.html
|
|
|
Post by clone on Nov 22, 2011 16:19:25 GMT -8
Thawing permafrost means costly fixes in the North Northern communities look to innovative solutions to tackle thawing soil Posted: Nov 18, 2011 1:21 PM ET In the Arctic, the ground is melting beneath northerners’ feet. This brings a new and costly infrastructure challenge to a region where building is already tricky. Many buildings need to be renovated because they’re sinking. New buildings struggle to last in an uncertain future. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/11/16/north-big-fix-permafrost.htmlFOR RELEASE #10-146 August 4, 2010 PDF 'Melting permafrost is a threat to northern Yukon highways' WHITEHORSE – The Yukon government will provide additional funding to repair a degraded section of the north Alaska Highway between Destruction Bay and the Alaska border. www.gov.yk.ca/news/2010/10-146.html
|
|
|
Post by siberia on Dec 14, 2011 14:18:22 GMT -8
'Fountains' of methane 1,000m across erupt from Arctic ice - a greenhouse gas 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide Last updated at 7:01 PM on 13th December 2011 * 'Methane fields on a scale not seen before' - researcher * More than 100 fountains, but could be 'thousands' * Could cause rapid climate change The Russian research vessel Academician Lavrentiev conducted a survey of 10,000 square miles of sea off the coast of eastern Siberia. They made a terrifying discovery - huge plumes of methane bubbles rising to the surface from the seabed. 'We found more than 100 fountains, some more than a kilometre across,' said Dr Igor Semiletov, 'These are methane fields on a scale not seen before. The emissions went directly into the atmosphere.' Earlier research conducted by Semiletov's team had concluded that the amount of methane currently coming out of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is comparable to the amount coming out of the entire world’s oceans. Now Semiletov thinks that could be an underestimate. Methane bubbles trapped in ice: Normally, bubbles from the seabed turn into carbon dioxide before reaching the surface, but the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is so shallow the methane travels directly into the atmosphereRead more: www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2073686/Fountains-methane-1-000m-erupt-Arctic-ice--greenhouse-gas-30-times-potent-carbon-dioxide.html
|
|
|
Post by clone on Dec 14, 2011 14:22:02 GMT -8
Why we should focus on methane; not carbon dioxide May 19, 2011 13:44 EDT Methane, a byproduct of natural gas drilling and of rice cultivation, is 20 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. This means that bang-for-the-buck in methane regulation is much better than in carbon regulation. This recent lecture by James Hansen of NASA, the leading academic on the left of the global warming debate, notes methane regulation has more short-term potential to slow climate change than does carbon regulation. And here’s the beauty of regulating methane — there would be no economic harm. With current technology, cars and trucks need to burn oil, power plants need to burn coal, which makes some carbon emissions inevitable. Many forms of methane emissions, by contrast, could be stopped without any reduction of GDP. Methane leaks from natural gas drilling, for example, don’t serve any economic purpose. Yet methane emissions are essentially unregulated in the United States. blogs.reuters.com/gregg-easterbrook/2011/05/19/why-we-should-focus-on-methane-not-carbon-dioxide/
|
|
|
Post by dams on Jan 3, 2012 6:51:03 GMT -8
SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS, Brazil, May 9, 2007 (ENS) - Scientists from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research, INPE, have published a new study showing that large dams contribute to global warming by releasing the greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere. The authors propose capturing the methane and using it to generate electricity. Dr. Ivan Lima and his colleagues used a theoretical model, bootstrap resampling and data provided by the International Commission On Large Dams World register of dams to demonstrate that global large dams annually release about 104 million metric tons of methane to the atmosphere through reservoir surfaces, turbines and spillways. Methane is the principal component of natural gas. The INPE scientists say engineering technologies now in existence can be implemented to avoid these emissions, and to recover the non-emitted methane for power generation. www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2007/2007-05-09-04.html
|
|
|
Post by clone on Jan 10, 2012 20:18:26 GMT -8
|
|
|
Post by clone on Feb 13, 2012 8:12:11 GMT -8
Air sampling reveals high emissions from gas field Methane leaks during production may offset climate benefits of natural gas. 07 February 2012 Natural-gas operations in areas such as Wyoming’s Jonah Field could release far more methane into the atmosphere than previously thought.When US government scientists began sampling the air from a tower north of Denver, Colorado, they expected urban smog — but not strong whiffs of what looked like natural gas. They eventually linked the mysterious pollution to a nearby natural-gas field, and their investigation has now produced the first hard evidence that the cleanest-burning fossil fuel might not be much better than coal when it comes to climate change. Led by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado, Boulder, the study estimates that natural-gas producers in an area known as the Denver-Julesburg Basin are losing about 4% of their gas to the atmosphere — not including additional losses in the pipeline and distribution system. This is more than double the official inventory, but roughly in line with estimates made in 2011 that have been challenged by industry. And because methane is some 25 times more efficient than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, releases of that magnitude could effectively offset the environmental edge that natural gas is said to enjoy over other fossil fuels. www.nature.com/news/air-sampling-reveals-high-emissions-from-gas-field-1.9982
|
|