Arctic Sinkholes: The climate crisis from which there will be no recovery.

[robosmith]

Per the video, thawing permafrost is already opening chimneys to the atmospheric release of many giga-tons of fossil methane gas which is 30x  worse GHG than CO2.

NOVA Arctic Sinkholes

Quote

NARRATOR: Due to positive feedback, permafrost emissions could increase the rate of warming, compounding the need for humans to reduce their emissions if climate targets are to be met.
But permafrost carbon isn't the only potential driver of a positive feedback cycle.
Permafrost is actually not the largest carbon reserve on Earth.
There's much larger carbon reserve in Earth's crust as fossil carbon.
But we often don't talk about this carbon.
This is because this carbon is considered very stable.
NARRATOR: But some scientists now wonder if this mega source of carbon is as stable as they thought.
Disturbing evidence comes from the bubbles in Esieh Lake.
Methane released by thawing permafrost has a particular chemical fingerprint.
When the scientists at Esieh Lake studied the methane in the bubbles, they discovered it originated deeper inside Earth.
Much deeper.
♪ ♪ Miles beneath the permafrost, deep in Earth's crust, lie huge fossil methane reservoirs.
While methane from permafrost comes from organic matter thousands of years old, fossil methane comes from organisms that decomposed millions of years ago.
But if it's miles beneath the surface, how is this methane getting through Earth's crust?
And why here?
Above ground, the landscape itself gives scientists a clue.
SULLIVAN: Looking up at the peaks around here, and studying the local geology, we know that this is a highly fractured and faulted region.
NARRATOR: As of 2021, Alaska is the most seismically active state in the U.S.
In the territory close to Esieh Lake, scientists have discovered a network of geological fault lines.
Although not on a tectonic plate boundary, movements of Earth's crust have caused it to crack here.
The closest fault line discovered so far is fewer than five miles from the lake.
Fault lines make cracks in Earth's crust through which fossil methane can rise to the surface.
Though it hasn't been confirmed, the scientists suspect a fault line lies near, or directly beneath, Esieh Lake.
But if so, there's a mystery.
Seismic evidence from the area suggests Esieh Lake sits above 500 feet of still-frozen permafrost.
This should form a rock-solid frozen barrier trapping the fossil methane inside Earth.
So how are these deep stocks of greenhouse gas breaking through to the surface?
So far, the team's sonar scan has revealed a 50-foot hole in the lake floor.
But what if they could look deeper, into the permafrost itself?
Geophysicist Nick Hasson joins the team, with technology used by the military.
75 just after the shrub.
HASSON: I'm essentially scanning the permafrost using a geophysical method called Very Low Frequency.
NARRATOR: Very Low Frequency, or VLF, measures a special kind of electromagnetic wave as it moves through Earth.
These waves are sent out globally by the Navy to communicate with submarines.
But as those waves pass through the Earth below, Hasson's equipment can pick them up.
By measuring the speed the wave travels, Hasson can tell whether the ground deep beneath him is frozen or not.
When it moves through the ground, if there's permafrost or ice, these waves are coming up against a lot of resistance.
But if there's no permafrost or ice, it quickly moves through.
NARRATOR: If they're strong enough, the electromagnetic VLF waves should enable Hasson to see whatever lies beneath the lake.
And so we can scan the Earth similar to how a doctor scans you with a MRI.
NARRATOR: Esieh Lake is the biggest on-land methane seep yet found in the Arctic, but no one has used VLF to look beneath it.
Until now.
HASSON: Wow.
Fantastic signals.
Yeah, so I'm starting to notice a change.
Well, we're over the largest seep, and there's some sort of large anomaly happening right here where I'm located.
And the VLF is picking it up.
It's very exciting.
The signals are just outstanding.
♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Back at camp, Hasson takes the first ever high-resolution glimpse beneath Esieh Lake.
This slice through 500 feet of ground below the lake reveals an anomaly.
So the dark blue is the permafrost region.
So anything that's light blue to red is thawed.
And so this shouldn't be here.
There should be permafrost covering this entire area.
But for some reason, what you can see here is a thaw chimney going from somewhere below 150 meters to the surface, where we see the rising bubbles.
And so this is really unique.
NARRATOR: So far, the scientists have only seen 50 feet beneath the lake.
Now, Hasson's VLF image lets them look ten times deeper.
Below the lake stretches a deep layer of permafrost.
But the scientists now know this hasn't just thawed at the surface.
Instead, a chimney of material has thawed right through the frozen permafrost: a warmer, semi-permeable passageway through which fossil methane rises to the surface.
So, thawing permafrost means not one, but two sources of methane for our atmosphere.
As it warms, permafrost releases its own methane gas.
And as thaw chimneys form within it, they provide an escape route for fossil methane that has been safely trapped for millions of years.
Scientists estimate there are around 1.3 trillion tons of methane stored beneath the Arctic.
That's nearly 250 times as much methane as there is in Earth's atmosphere today.
So is Esieh Lake's thaw chimney unique?
Or is fossil methane escaping elsewhere?
While the leak in Esieh Lake is unusually large, smaller seeps of fossil methane are being discovered across the Arctic.
In Alaska alone, over 70 sites have been found.
♪ ♪ There's no current sign the entire reserve of fossil methane is moving toward the surface.
But the appearance of even small amounts of this ancient greenhouse gas has some scientists concerned.
WALTER ANTHONY: If permafrost thawed, then that's a scary wildcard in the climate change story, because we think there's a huge amount of methane and natural gas trapped inside permafrost and under permafrost.
So if permafrost becomes like Swiss cheese, with lots of holes in it, then you can have chimneys where that gas is erupting out.
And that is not included in climate models.
♪ ♪ NARRATOR: If only a tiny fraction of the fossil reservoirs were to reach the atmosphere, it could intensify warming, putting even more pressure on human emissions targets.
How fast that's going to happen and just how much methane will come out, we don't know.
NARRATOR: Scientists don't currently understand how fast such a cycle might occur, or what it would look like.
But there's one place on Earth that gives a chilling example of how a human-made permafrost feedback cycle actually works.
Northeast Siberia is home to the Chersky Mountains.
In the 1960s, in a place called Batagaika, a stretch of forest was cleared to make a road.
Stripped of its tree cover, the permafrost was exposed to the warming sun.
As it thawed, the ground sank, pulling down trees at its edge and exposing more permafrost: a positive feedback cycle.
♪ ♪ Today, the strip of cleared forest is a depression nearly 300 feet deep and over half a mile wide.
And it's growing.
Scientists call it a megaslump.
LEIBMAN: Batagaika, it is very big, but this, the size is because of the initial human impact.
And this one is already more than one kilometer, and growing every summer.
NARRATOR: Batagaika reveals how a small human impact can start a devastating feedback cycle in permafrost.
(birds chirping) Scientists are now trying to discover what a feedback cycle could mean for the entire permafrost region and whether it could reach a point where it becomes irreversible.
Such a phenomenon is called a tipping point.
SULLIVAN: A tipping point is the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.
You can get away with adding straw for so long, and then you can't.
And the tipping point is the point of no return.

 

[gatomontes99]

9 hours ago, robosmith said:

Per the video, thawing permafrost is already opening chimneys to the atmospheric release of many giga-tons of fossil methane gas which is 30x  worse GHG than CO2.

NOVA Arctic Sinkholes

 

So a natural phenomenon is more effective at moving us from our current ice age into the (more common) gas house era and that is a crisis?

Why?

Gas house stages have always seen the most amount of life. There is a larger temperate climate zone that results in more vegetation and thus more animal life. So, why exactly is this a crisis?

Edited Monday at 04:25 PM by gatomontes99

[Nationalist]

4 hours ago, gatomontes99 said:

So a natural phenomenon is more effective at moving is from our current ice age into the (more common) gas house era and that is a crisis?

Why?

Gas house stages have always seen the most amount of life. There is a larger temperate climate zone that results in more vegetation and thus more animal life. So, why exactly is this a crisis?

All that methane will only fuel gas-bags like robo.

[Aristides]

This was predicted at least 30 years ago.  If all the world's ice melts, sea levels will rise 216 ft. That doesn't include rise from thermal expansion which depends on water temperature and accounts for about half the sea level rise over the last century. I leave it to the individual to decide whether that would be a problem.

[Deluge]

7 hours ago, robosmith said:

Per the video, thawing permafrost is already opening chimneys to the atmospheric release of many giga-tons of fossil methane gas which is 30x  worse GHG than CO2.

NOVA Arctic Sinkholes

 

How much time do we have left, professor? I'm not even 50% done with my bucket list. 

 

 

[User]

The problem here is that every other day is DOOMSDAY, OMG WE ARE GOING TO ALL DIE with you folks. So... when you keep the volume turned up to 12 on a dial that goes to 10, when you come along with yet another OMG THIS IS REALLY IT comment... no one cares. 

 

[Michael Hardner]

As typified by the "who cares" responses, Climate Change's big impact is that it revealed a public sphere that can't coalise on problem solving.

[Deluge]

6 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

As typified by the "who cares" responses, Climate Change's big impact is that it revealed a public sphere that can't coalise on problem solving.

"Climate Change" is responsible for over 100 years of politically charged hysteria. 

If you're going to wring your hands over a global catastrophe, make it over something like magnetic pole shifts - it sounds a lot more realistic and it's 100% free of politicized bullshit. 

[gatomontes99]

Liberals....the end is near! Again!

 

[CdnFox]

1 hour ago, Aristides said:

This was predicted at least 30 years ago.  If all the world's ice melts, sea levels will rise 216 ft. That doesn't include rise from thermal expansion which depends on water temperature and accounts for about half the sea level rise over the last century. I leave it to the individual to decide whether that would be a problem.

Well let's do some math. If the water rises we will have to move away from the shores. This will happen over a. Of centuries. My car travels 120 km an hour fairly comfortably

I think I'll be able to get out of the way

[Deluge]

I wonder why China isn't burnt to a crisp. They've been pumping shit into the air for decades and I doubt they've even upped their sunscreen use. 

[Nationalist]

1 hour ago, Aristides said:

This was predicted at least 30 years ago.  If all the world's ice melts, sea levels will rise 216 ft. That doesn't include rise from thermal expansion which depends on water temperature and accounts for about half the sea level rise over the last century. I leave it to the individual to decide whether that would be a problem.

IF...

[WestCanMan]

2 hours ago, Aristides said:

This was predicted at least 30 years ago.  If all the world's ice melts, sea levels will rise 216 ft. That doesn't include rise from thermal expansion which depends on water temperature and accounts for about half the sea level rise over the last century. I leave it to the individual to decide whether that would be a problem.

Antarctic sea ice is expanding, dingus, and has been since they started measuring it in 1979. 

Sorry to burst your id10tic little bubble. 

[User]

1 hour ago, Michael Hardner said:

As typified by the "who cares" responses, Climate Change's big impact is that it revealed a public sphere that can't coalise on problem solving.

As typified by the "OMG CLIMATE CHANGE!" responses, it has been revealed that those who are pushing this can't even define how bad the "problem" is that it needs "solved" and the solutions they support are just wealth transfers and smoke and mirrors.  

 

[robosmith]

29 minutes ago, WestCanMan said:

Antarctic sea ice is expanding, dingus, and has been since they started measuring it in 1979. 

Sorry to burst your id10tic little bubble. 

Ice floating in the sea does NOT raise the sea level dingus.

Sea ice is likely expanding because LAND ICE from Antarctica is glacially flowing into the sea and breaking off.

That DOES raise the sea level, dingus.

[robosmith]

5 hours ago, Nationalist said:

All that methane will only fuel gas-bags like robo.

Thanks for proving you STILL KNOW NOTHING about GHG and CLIMATE CRISIS. 🤮

I'm sure you didn't even watch the video, cause your cognitive dissonance won't allow you to comprehend the truth.

[Legato]

3 hours ago, robosmith said:

Ice floating in the sea does NOT raise the sea level dingus.

Sea ice is likely expanding because LAND ICE from Antarctica is glacially flowing into the sea and breaking off.

That DOES raise the sea level, dingus.

Dingus? Is that the Canis Lupus type?

[robosmith]

1 minute ago, Legato said:

Dingus? Is that the Canis Lupus type?

Why are you TROLLING me instead of WCM?

[herbie]

The lion is charging us! Don't worry it's "natural". Don't just stand there, run towards it.

[Legato]

2 minutes ago, robosmith said:

Why are you TROLLING me instead of WCM?

I like fishing where there's a shoal.

[Legato]

43 minutes ago, herbie said:

The lion is charging us! Don't worry it's "natural". Don't just stand there, run towards it.

[robosmith]

7 minutes ago, Legato said:

^Disingenuous or ignorance or both. 🤮

Now do sea level to show all the coastal cities which will be flooded, and drought stricken and tornado ravaged farm fields.

[CDN1]

Socially engineered demographic change is a far greater existential threat to Western civilization than man-made Climate change ever was. Liberals are guilty of the former. 

Things will only devolve & divide further as we approach tipping point. Millions dead, societal collapse within our lifetimes.

Edited Monday at 10:06 PM by CDN1

[CdnFox]

15 minutes ago, robosmith said:

Disingenuous or ignorance or both. 🤮

Isn't disingenuous means not real and ignorance means a lack of information.  So.... if it's disingenuous ignorance isn't that just  another way of saying ' honest truth'?

[robosmith]

18 minutes ago, CDN1 said:

Socially engineered demographic change is a far greater existential threat to Western civilization than man-made Climate change ever was. Liberals are guilty of the former. 

Things will only devolve & divide further as we approach tipping point. Millions dead, societal collapse within our lifetimes.

Tell ^this to all the people whose homes were destroyed by climate change in Pacific Palisades at a cost of $250B.

Then add all the record setting East coast fires which burn out of control.