[News] Methane, Potent Greenhouse Gas, Flowing Into The Atmosphere From Tundra Much Faster T

[Moontanman]

Methane, Potent Greenhouse Gas, Flowing Into The Atmosphere From Tundra Much Faster Than Expected

ScienceDaily (Dec. 11, 2008) — Much more methane gas is being emitted into the atmosphere from the tundra in northeast Greenland than previous studies have shown. New figures reveal that large amounts of greenhouse gases are being emitted into the atmosphere, not just during the warm summer months, but also during the colder autumn months.

 

Methane, Potent Greenhouse Gas, Flowing Into The Atmosphere From Tundra Much Faster Than Expected

[Essay]

It probably shouldn't be surprising that upon freezing, a pulse of methane is generated.

 

Perhaps....

The difference is that these areas which were once frozen throughout the year, are now going through a freeze-thaw cycle.

 

Also, there may be a certain depth of the soil profile which is more susceptable to freeze-thaw cycling.

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Thanks for the update:

Interesting, in light of these recent observations:

Methane Gas Levels Begin To Increase Again

 

A rise in Northern Hemispheric emissions may be due to the very warm conditions that were observed over Siberia throughout 2007.

One surprising feature of this recent growth is that it occurred almost simultaneously at all measurement locations across the globe. However, the majority of methane emissions are in the Northern Hemisphere, and it takes more than one year for gases to be mixed from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere.

 

...new findings published in Geophysical Review Letters.... ...say this imbalance has resulted in several million metric tons of additional methane in the atmosphere. Methane is produced by wetlands, rice paddies, cattle, and the gas and coal industries, and is destroyed by reaction with the hydroxyl free radical (OH), often referred to as the atmosphere's "cleanser."

At present, however, it is uncertain whether such a drop in hydroxyl free radical concentrations did occur because of the inherent uncertainty in the current method for estimating global OH levels.

 

"The key thing is to better determine the relative roles of increased methane emission versus an increase in the rate of removal," Prinn said. "Apparently we have a mix of the two, but we want to know how much of each" is responsible for the overall increase.

It is too early to tell whether this increase represents a return to sustained methane growth, or the beginning of a relatively short-lived anomaly, according to Rigby and Prinn.

~ :phones: