
Mysterious craters are just the beginning of Arctic surprises - jseliger
http://www.salon.com/2014/08/06/mysterious_craters_are_just_the_beginning_of_arctic_surprises_partner/
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junto
I seem to remember reading that many climate change researchers believe that
methane stability in the Arctic Ocean is crucial to preventing climate change
from sky rocketing out of control.

If I remember rightly methane is kept stable on the sea bed in a solid form
due to the temperature of the sea water and water pressure.

As sea temperatures rise the methane turns to a gas and is released from the
sea bed into the atmosphere compounding global warming. Quite quickly the
process will spiral out of control.

Once we have "opened Pandora's box" there isn't any going back. I also seem to
remember that it was estimated that a relatively small increase would be
enough to trigger this process.

I'm on a mobile with a poor connection so I'll try and find some references
tomorrow.

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cratering
I think you are referring to the "Clathrate gun hypothesis".
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis)

