Comments on: The Weekly Carboholic: traditional media errs on latest permafrost study

By: Scholars and Rogues » Trust us – we’re smarter than you: climate and Superfreakonomics

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:33:51 +0000

[...] admit that they don’t yet agree on the best ways to model clouds and aerosols (two areas that scientists have made significant advances in since the publication of the IPCC AR4 in 2007). But neither of [...]

By: Scholars and Rogues » The Weekly Carboholic: U.S. consumer choices control U.S. carbon emissions

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 14:52:24 +0000

[...] of global heating? Or will the reduced albedo change dominate, warming the Arctic to the point that methane hydrates undergo massive melting? I suspect some of the existing climate models are already being tuned to incorporate the new [...]

By: Scholars and Rogues » The Weekly Carboholic: low carbon holiday ideas

Scholars and Rogues » The Weekly Carboholic: low carbon holiday ideas — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:37:15 +0000

[...] problem is this – what happens if the drilling technology destabilizes the hydrates and causes a methane burp? And don’t even think about pulling enough methane out of the hydrate deposits to prevent a [...]

By: Scholars and Rogues » Global Carbon Project says 2007 CO2 emission higher than worst-case IPCC estimate

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:03:26 +0000

[...] nearly all cases, but not necessarily in a timely manner. Every city in the world needs to do what Berkeley, California is trying to do – reduce the cost of entry for every single energy efficiency i…, from solar panels to lower electricity consumption to ground heat pump installations. And no new [...]

By: Brian Angliss

Brian Angliss — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 05:33:32 +0000

NOYK – Nope, methane bubbling off the ocean floor in large quantities is kinda terrifying. Especially when there’s so much that the gas can’t dissolve in the water before it hits the surface.

New plants will eventually grow in permafrost, but the question is one of timescale – will new plants grow up fast enough to offset the carbon being emitted in to the atmosphere by decaying plant matter in the former permafrost. And that’s a question that, based on everything I’ve read, is either an unknown or is estimated to still be a net carbon source instead of a carbon sink.

By: NoOneYouKnow

NoOneYouKnow — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 05:06:58 +0000

If permafrost melts, wouldn’t the corresponding rise in temperature allow new plants to grow, which would be accelerated by the carbon output, thus potentially trapping the melting permafrost?
Also, am I the only one who finds the idea of methane melting off the ocean floor in enormous amounts to be kinda terrifying?

By: Brian Angliss

Brian Angliss — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:36:21 +0000

Permafrost isn’t permanent, and the science around it is evolving pretty quickly. That’s one of the reasons I keep posting updates. I have to admit that part of me hopes that there will be new science that pops up that says “Permafrost is going to melt, and it’s going to dump carbon in to the atmosphere, but we overestimated the rate at which that’ll happen by a factor of 10 or 100.” No such luck yet.

By: Lex

Lex — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:51:13 +0000

Interesting installment, Brian, thanks.

Some of my recent reading has tangentially discussed rapid climate change. I’m not so sure that permafrost is permanent. Apparently, remains of large fruit trees, tree ferns, and other strange flora have been found on Arctic islands like Spitzbergen. The flora that has been found would require not just a warmer climate, but a significantly different climate.

Another interesting anecdote is the Piri Reis map (1513, though the information it contains would have to be either pure guesswork or much older). Said map details the coast of Antarctica; moreover, according to the USGS and the military, the map gives an accurate picture of the Antarctic coast…below the ice!

http://www.zimbio.com/National+Science+Foundation+-+NSF/articles/7/Picture+space+Piri+Reis+map

The real bombshell in this is a civilization able to accurately map (and project) continents long before it was supposedly possible. 4000BC is the last date that science is willing to give for Antarctica being ice free along the coast. Let’s never mind a high, mathematical sea-faring nation pre-4000BC and concentrate on just how quickly so much ice built up over Antarctica. 6000 years is a geological blink of the eye, especially with our school book knowledge of Antarctica being covered in ice for millions of years.

The more i learn, the more i realize how little we really know.

By: www.buzzflash.net

www.buzzflash.net — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:12:48 +0000

The Weekly Carboholic: traditional media errs on latest permafrost study…

This week: traditional media misunderstands or misrepresents the latest permafrost study; U.S. national labs to study four abrupt climate change scenarios; scientists witness first massive Arctic methane release; Oklahoma plants absorb less CO2 during …