Russian scientists suspect Siberian Craters are due to melting permafrost

(Apologies if this has been posted.. only did a quick search.)

The Really Scary Thing About Those Jaw-Dropping Siberian Craters

"Russian scientists sent to the site are now providing first-hand data showing that unusually high concentrations of methane of up to 9.6 percent were present at the bottom of the first large crater shortly after it was discovered on July 16. Andrei Plekhanov, an archaeologist at the Scientific Centre of Arctic Studies in Salekhard, Russia, who led an expedition to the crater, told The Journal Nature that air normally contains just 0.000179 percent methane."

"According to Plekhanov, the last two summers in the Yamal have been exceptionally warm at about nine degrees Fahrenheit above average. Rising temperatures could have allowed the permafrost to thaw and collapse, releasing the methane previously trapped by the subterranean ice."

'“Gas pressure increased until it was high enough to push away the overlying layers in a powerful injection, forming the crater,” he said. '

"According to Chanton, if the permafrost completely melts, there would be five times the current amount of carbon equivalent in the atmosphere."

thinkprogress.org...

a reply to: nOraKat

Imagine that...more methane release!

a reply to: nOraKat

Ok, don't worry.

This thing is perpetual, I have known this for years. We already passed the point of no return, now it is just trying to keep it from causing an extinction event.

But why wasn't this methane released the last thaw. It isn't making sense. That area was supposed to be warm twenty thousand years ago I thought. Why didn't all the methane disipate then? The only way this would be possible is if something is wrong with some of our theories of where the gas comes from or whether a baring of that area actually ever occured.

Something smells fishy with our consensus of the time.

As much as I liked the "Aliens retrieving secret mega weapons from deep in the earth of Siberia", I thought it was pretty obvious these are just big icy sinkholes.

Speaking of methane...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: rickymouse


As I understand it these regions of Siberian tundra are deep peat and swamp deposits, so there's plenty of decaying biological material built up since the end of the last ice age to be rotting down, freezing, trapping methane.


But yes, the methane release issue is unbelievably scary. This is I think one of the more genuine and pressingly urgent extinction level events the modern world is facing.

Yet tragically a huge number of people refuse to accept it because they don't believe in Climate Change.

a reply to: nOraKat

I'm with the scientists on he thought that methane would seep out over time at a slower rate. But I'm not sure on the soil make up in the part of the world or at that depth for there as well.

a reply to: Painterz

I believe in climate change, but just lowering emissions is not going to cure the problem. Fracking is causing some of this change also. Look at our paved roads, they are leaking similar chemicals into the air for ten years after they are put in. Black turns to white, why. Now concrete is also made from calcium carbonate which is limestone. But this carbon is locked to a crystal and is more stable. Now the process of refining it releases carbon is what was said by someone in a different thread, but I have not verified this.