

Methane Is Discovered Seeping from Seafloor Off East Coast, Scientists Say - dnetesn
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/science/methane-is-seeping-from-seafloor-off-east-coast-scientists-say.html?ref=science

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randomdrake
While this appears to be an alarming "discovery," I'm not sure what the news
is considering Skarke and Ruppel were both included on a paper submitted in
2012 (and available in Spring of 2013) titled: "Evidence for extensive methane
venting on the southeastern U.S. Atlantic margin[1]." Perhaps it's simply that
the depth and length of time has now been revealed? I couldn't find the paper
that the articles are mentioning.

In any case, there's another paper (available for free currently) that goes
into more detail on what sort of implications the methane can have on
different sorts of oceanic conditions: "Seafloor oxygen consumption fuelled by
methane from cold seeps[2]."

[1] -
[http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/41/7/807](http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/41/7/807)

[2] -
[http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v6/n9/full/ngeo1926.html](http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v6/n9/full/ngeo1926.html)

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shakethemonkey
We've known for decades that there are enormous quantities of methane
clathrates at the bottom of the northern oceans. That some of it vents should
not surprise anyone.

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jaekwon
Do we know that this isn't a recent phenomenon? I suspect that it might be
new, along with methane potholes showing up in Siberia.

I think we know that there have been bouts of global warming that was preceded
by release of methane into the atmosphere, followed by 6 to 9 degrees of
warming over a long period of time. It fucked with the ecosystem but mammals
managed to survive at least two of them.

This appears to be a man-made beginning to one of these warming periods,
though it's happening at a much faster rate than ever by orders of magnitude.

[http://www.wunderground.com/climate/PETM.asp](http://www.wunderground.com/climate/PETM.asp)

So, I think what's scary is that this looks like a massive global extinction
event that hasn't happened in 25 ~ 50 million years, and it's starting now,
and it's happening faster than it ever has. I dunno, doesn't that scare you a
little?

It looks like if we're not unlucky we'll manage to survive (mammals have done
it before). Probably scariest is the political turmoil that will result.
That's the part that will affect us in our lifetime.

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Shivetya
well the article indicates that many of the observed locations date to over a
thousand years old. The take away questions for me, since I am not buying the
paper are.

What are the changes in sea temperature in the shallow areas the seeps were
found? Do we have good measurements across a great many years? How much of a
temperature increase is needed to start seepage and how much is needed to stop
it once started?

It is likely we simply stumbled on something that has been but simply not
observed. Not all of the surface is under constant observation and obviously
far less of the ocean is

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_delirium
BBC version of the story: [http://www.bbc.com/news/science-
environment-28898223](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28898223)

Does the actual paper exist yet? Both the NYT and BBC reference an article
posted online on Sunday (i.e. today) by Nature Geoscience. That would
presumably show up here:
[http://www.nature.com/ngeo/research/](http://www.nature.com/ngeo/research/).
But at the moment nothing there is newer than last Sunday. And the BBC's DOI
link is a 404. Are they forward-referencing an article that hasn't been posted
yet, but which they got advance access to?

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junto
When the same starts happening in the Arctic, then we have a really bad
spiralling problem on our hands.

Bye bye ice. Hello higher sea levels.

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eCa
While it definitely will have bad consequenses, the melting of the arctic ice
will not _directly_ lead to rising sea levels (since it is floating).

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Gravityloss
You would have been closer to correct if you said _sea_ ice.

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eCa
Yes, I've been following Arctic Sea Ice News[1] for so long I atomatically
read "arctic" as "artic sea". (And many people seem to think that the arctic
sea ice melting will contribute as much as the landbased ice to the sea level
problem.)

When the landbased ice in the arctic region starts melting in earnest we will
have a rather large problem..

[1] [http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/](http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/)

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kulkarnic
```The methane is emanating from at least 570 locations, called seeps, from
near Cape Hatteras, N.C., to the Georges Bank southeast of Nantucket, Mass.
While the seepage is widespread, the researchers estimated that the amount of
gas was tiny compared with the amount released from all sources each year. ```

Somewhat sensationalist given the source. I really hope articles like these do
not distract from the larger climate change problem.

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Shivetya
Well it adds another piece to the puzzle, a puzzle we are far from solving nor
do we know all the pieces. I am not sure which models information like this
can plug into but I expect it to lead a few to more accurate forecasts.

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ajcarpy2005
They could try blocking the leak somehow although it might be pretty
difficult. But I think this could lead to earthquakes if they figure out a way
to cap it.

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thisjepisje
_sigh_ paywall again

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ecopoesis
Or, you could pay for a service that you obviously find useful and
interesting.

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jsaxton86
I share the grandparent's frustration. I'm not opposed to the NYT having a
paywall, but submitting paywall-protected content to a news aggregator is a
bad idea, especially when free alternatives exist. The point of a news
aggregator is to share content with the rest of the community, and paywalls
are designed to restrict that access.

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tmilard
Please stop putting nytimes.com news as in Frence it is not free at all.

