Scientists may have figured out why a potent greenhouse gas is rising. The answer is scary.

[robosmith]

Scientists may have figured out why a potent greenhouse gas is rising. The answer is scary.

Methane emissions spiked starting in 2020. Scientists say they have found the culprit.

 

Everglades National Park in Florida in April. Wetlands are releasing more methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as the Earth warms. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

By Shannon Osaka

Almost two decades ago, the atmosphere’s levels of methane — a dangerous greenhouse gas that is over 80 times as potent as carbon dioxide in the short term — started to climb. And climb.

Methane concentrations, which had been stable for years, soared by 5 or 6 parts per billion every year from 2007 onward. Then, in 2020, the growth rate nearly doubled.
 

Scientists were baffled — and concerned. Methane is the big question mark hanging over the world’s climate estimates; although it breaks down in the atmosphere much faster than carbon dioxide, it is so powerful that higher-than-expected methane levels could shift the world toward much higher temperatures.

 

But now, a study sheds light on what’s driving record methane emissions. The culprits, scientists believe, are microbes — the tiny organisms that live in cows’ stomachs, agricultural fields and wetlands. And that could mean a dangerous feedback loop — in which these emissions cause warming that releases even more greenhouse gases — is already underway.

“The changes that we saw in the last couple of years — and even since 2007 — are microbial,” said Sylvia Michel, lead author of the paper published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Wetlands, if they are getting warmer and wetter, maybe they’re producing more methane than they used to.”

It’s difficult for scientists to identify all the sources of methane in the world. It comes from leaking oil and gas operations, from cows belching, from landfills and marshes, and from thawing permafrost in the Arctic. When methane emissions increase, finding the cause is like solving a complicated algebra problem with too many unknowns.

Edited Tuesday at 10:35 PM by robosmith

[herbie]

Complicated only when you ignore years of warning of methane hydrate release from the permafrost and warming oceans until it happens right in your back yard.

[User]

Not scared. 

[gatomontes99]

Lmao...I saw the headline and said to myself "What now? Cow farts again?" And fùck me! Its cow farts again! 

FYI, Milankovitch Cycles perfectly explain increased methane. 

Edited Wednesday at 02:48 PM by gatomontes99

[Nationalist]

Too funny.

"AHHH!!! COW FARTS AND SH1TS!!! WE ALL GONNA DIIIEEE!!!"

Such Tweenkies.

[Aristides]

There are billions of tons of methane locked in Arctic permafrost, just waiting for it to thaw and be released into the atmosphere. 

[User]

9 minutes ago, Aristides said:

There are billions of tons of methane locked in Arctic permafrost, just waiting for it to thaw and be released into the atmosphere. 

Really big tarps! That will do the trick. 

[Deluge]

18 hours ago, robosmith said:

Scientists may have figured out why a potent greenhouse gas is rising. The answer is scary.

Methane emissions spiked starting in 2020. Scientists say they have found the culprit.

 

Everglades National Park in Florida in April. Wetlands are releasing more methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as the Earth warms. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

By Shannon Osaka

Almost two decades ago, the atmosphere’s levels of methane — a dangerous greenhouse gas that is over 80 times as potent as carbon dioxide in the short term — started to climb. And climb.

Methane concentrations, which had been stable for years, soared by 5 or 6 parts per billion every year from 2007 onward. Then, in 2020, the growth rate nearly doubled.
 

Scientists were baffled — and concerned. Methane is the big question mark hanging over the world’s climate estimates; although it breaks down in the atmosphere much faster than carbon dioxide, it is so powerful that higher-than-expected methane levels could shift the world toward much higher temperatures.

 

But now, a study sheds light on what’s driving record methane emissions. The culprits, scientists believe, are microbes — the tiny organisms that live in cows’ stomachs, agricultural fields and wetlands. And that could mean a dangerous feedback loop — in which these emissions cause warming that releases even more greenhouse gases — is already underway.

“The changes that we saw in the last couple of years — and even since 2007 — are microbial,” said Sylvia Michel, lead author of the paper published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Wetlands, if they are getting warmer and wetter, maybe they’re producing more methane than they used to.”

It’s difficult for scientists to identify all the sources of methane in the world. It comes from leaking oil and gas operations, from cows belching, from landfills and marshes, and from thawing permafrost in the Arctic. When methane emissions increase, finding the cause is like solving a complicated algebra problem with too many unknowns.

Activists have been weeping and gnashing about the climate since loooong before these ldiots: 

And they will be weeping and gnashing looong after those ldiots.  

[Deluge]

If I were you, treebats, I would be moving to higher ground, and staying there.

4,000+ ft. above sea level oughta do it, preferably in Mexico.  

[Aristides]

1 hour ago, User said:

Really big tarps! That will do the trick. 

Once it starts happening there will be no stopping it. 

[gatomontes99]

9 minutes ago, Aristides said:

Once it starts happening there will be no stopping it. 

The only way to stop it is to stop the universe from spinning. I'm sure Elon could do it, but he and Trump had a falling out. Better invest in some sunscreen. 

[User]

37 minutes ago, Aristides said:

Once it starts happening there will be no stopping it. 

Starts?

What is this thread about... it has already started!

We are DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!

[Aristides]

7 minutes ago, User said:

Starts?

What is this thread about... it has already started!

We are DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!

We might be. Certainly the world is going to see a change like no other in recorded history. 

https://legacy.geog.ucsb.edu/what-if-all-the-ice-melted-an-interactive-map-from-national-geographic/

[robosmith]

2 hours ago, Nationalist said:

Too funny.

"AHHH!!! COW FARTS AND SH1TS!!! WE ALL GONNA DIIIEEE!!!"

Such Tweenkies.

^Says the IGNORAMUS DROPOUT about SCIENCE of which he IS CLUELESS.

I know that CS majors don't even take science courses like us ENGINEERS did. LMAO

[robosmith]

2 hours ago, Aristides said:

There are billions of tons of methane locked in Arctic permafrost, just waiting for it to thaw and be released into the atmosphere. 

And a LOT MORE fossil methane beneath the the permafrost cap which doesn't even need microbial disintegration to be released. 

[robosmith]

58 minutes ago, Aristides said:

Once it starts happening there will be no stopping it. 

Might be able to install flaring pipes and burn it, but that will be A LOT OF FLARE PIPES.

Assuming that the gases released by burning the methane are not just as bad.

22 minutes ago, User said:

Starts?

What is this thread about... it has already started!

We are DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMED!

Right now it is coming out in dribbles. The warmer it gets, the more it will turn into GUSHES.

You're welcome, IGNORAMUS.

[Aristides]

5 minutes ago, robosmith said:

Might be able to install flaring pipes and burn it, but that will be A LOT OF FLARE PIPES.

Assuming that the gases released by burning the methane are not just as bad.

Burning it off will still result in CO2 emissions but less impact than just allowing the release of methane.

[Michael Hardner]

33 minutes ago, Aristides said:

We might be. Certainly the world is going to see a change like no other in recorded history. 

https://legacy.geog.ucsb.edu/what-if-all-the-ice-melted-an-interactive-map-from-national-geographic/

All the cackling chuds out there will be long dead when people ask... Why was nothing done?

[Nationalist]

1 hour ago, robosmith said:

^Says the IGNORAMUS DROPOUT about SCIENCE of which he IS CLUELESS.

I know that CS majors don't even take science courses like us ENGINEERS did. LMAO

Are you gonna be wrong again?

G'head G'head...

[robosmith]

1 minute ago, Nationalist said:

Are you gonna be wrong again?

G'head G'head...

Why did you DROPOUT?

[Nationalist]

38 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

All the cackling chuds out there will be long dead when people ask... Why was nothing done?

All you limp biscuits will still be praying for the end of the world a century from now.

Just now, robosmith said:

Why did you DROPOUT?

I found a business that paid extraordinarily well.

[robosmith]

Just now, Nationalist said:

All you limp biscuits will still be praying for the end of the world a century from now.

Certainly neither YOU nor YOUR ILK will DO ANYTHING to stop it. 

1 minute ago, Nationalist said:

All you limp biscuits will still be praying for the end of the world a century from now.

I found a business that paid extraordinarily well.

So you traded ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE for money, and now you just feign lack of IGNORANCE.

[Nationalist]

1 minute ago, robosmith said:

Certainly neither YOU nor YOUR ILK will DO ANYTHING to stop it. 

Stop what Tweenkie-Poo?

The climate? Lol...nothing you or anyone else does can effect the planet's climate to the degree of crisis.

Which...BTW...is why no climate scientist will say such in a proper document.

So...you're wrong again.

[Nationalist]

6 minutes ago, robosmith said:

Certainly neither YOU nor YOUR ILK will DO ANYTHING to stop it. 

So you traded ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE for money, and now you just feign lack of IGNORANCE.

Feign lack of ignorance???

Lol...

[robosmith]

1 minute ago, Nationalist said:

Stop what Tweenkie-Poo?

The climate? Lol...nothing you or anyone else does can effect the planet's climate to the degree of crisis.

Yes, but BILLIONS can and DO AFFECT the planet's climate and when that methane is released even you will understand what crisis means.

1 minute ago, Nationalist said:

Which...BTW...is why no climate scientist will say such in a proper document.

So...you're wrong again.

Your OPINION doesn't make me wrong.

It is NOT a scientist's job to determine "crisis." Duh

But plenty have determined crisis level impacts of climate change: like runaway warming from the tipping point of permafrost melting.

2 minutes ago, Nationalist said:

Feign lack of ignorance???

Lol...

Yes you feigning expertise that you don't have, is a lack of IGNORANCE.