Holy crap would you look at that!: Fire balls of methane from the ice

There have been many posts here about the large methane problem escaping from the ice and permafrost but watching it is a different story.

Did you know methane is about 20x more dangerous than co2? it can also stay in the atmosphere for up to 15 years. I'm not so sure trees can filter methane either. In the clip they're oohing and awing with some laughing but I'm not laughing. This is an invisible threat. While we read about global warming, look at the studies, listen to others, we really can't put into perspective what is going into our atmosphere because we can't see it. Well, now you can



Scary eh?

free energy!

hahah oil tycoons... eat this!!

whenever i´m cold, i´ll just light my backyard

Well, looks like fun till you blow yourself up or singe all your hair.

Wow! That's so cool.

It makes my mind wander and think about primitive people, witnessing this phenomena during a lighten strike, or a forest fire edging onto a frozen lake, and whoosh, the lake catches fire! Gives new meaning to "lake of fire"

Primitive people may have learned how to harness fire, because of this very phenom. They might have thought is was a miracle from the gods.

Star and flag, my friend, good post!

Burning it is one way to get rid of it.
This needs to be done more often on a larger scale.
Or some brainiac figure out how to harness it for the greater good.

As long as organic matter is able to decompose, methane will be produced. This isn't something to be worried about. It has been happening since the first tree fell into a swamp and started to rot.

Full Points!!! Global Warming Duhhh!!! Relate it to DOOM!!! you will get good viewership...

reply to post by survivalstation


Sure I know. But it's escaping from permafrost.

A vast expanse of permafrost in Siberia and Alaska has started to thaw for the first time since it formed 11,000 years ago, marked in dark blue on the map. It is caused by the recent 3+°C rise in local temperature over the past 40 years - more than four times the global average. Peat bogs cover an area of a million square miles (or almost a quarter of the earth's land surface) to a depth of 25 meters.

That is pretty crazy. First think I thought was these guys are idiots, what if that methane pocket was huge, it would have blown them skyhigh. But after watching further it looks kind of fun. I'll still leave it to someone else to try though.

S & F

Originally posted by FlySolo
reply to post by survivalstation

 

Sure I know. But it's escaping from permafrost.

A vast expanse of permafrost in Siberia and Alaska has started to thaw for the first time since it formed 11,000 years ago, marked in dark blue on the map. It is caused by the recent 3+°C rise in local temperature over the past 40 years - more than four times the global average. Peat bogs cover an area of a million square miles (or almost a quarter of the earth's land surface) to a depth of 25 meters.

edit on 11-3-2012 by FlySolo because: (no reason given)

most of the global warming folks don't post here anymore because we get run off with comments about al gore being satan or thinking he's the pope or some such thing. personally i think the permafrost melt is pretty bad and one more thing to add to the list of things messing up our climate. we've done too little too late.

edit to add: wow. that video is CRAZY. i'm surprised they didn't get burned.

Two thoughts on this.

#1 "We're going to need a longer match!"

#2 "Hey y'all, watch this!"

That's not going to be fun and cool when they find a bigger pocket. No protective gear or anything.

Did you see that Woman with the teeny tiny match? Nutters

flame throwers and a keg of beer. i know people that would sign up for that.

Guess I'll leave my smokes at home for the next ice fishing excursion!
I wonder if any of the eskimos or other ice habitat cultures ever used this?

Nice find,
spec

Oh well, would you look at this! Would you look at that!

Fascinating!

What you are seeing here is a pocket of methane trapped underneath the ice atop a lake. It is completely normal. Methane is produced by decomposing plant and animal matter at the bottom of the lake. It happens year round, despite the temperature. When you see bubbles breaking the surface of the water in summer, that is what that is. Naturally occurring methane. Only difference here is that it is winter and the methane is trapped under the ice rather than simply dissipating into the atmosphere when it breaks the surface. This is not a phenomenon, it is not a sign of doom, it is nothing but the completely normal processes of nature taking place exactly the same way they have for eons.

meh i didnt need them eybrows any how

There is a lot of methane escaping at an accelerating rate. These are reserves of methane built up over tens and even hundreds of thousands of years, and with the unprecedented rate of temperature change, who knows what could happen in the next few years.

We might see very, very rapid climate change.

Im no sci-o-tist...

but couldnt this be harnessed for some type of energy ?

reply to post by WordPlayJAy


erm yes
Often it is compressed into little cells called "beans"
which are then baked
upon being masticated and mixed with hydrochloric acid they again become a flamable gas which then can be blamed on the dog....
I mean lit with a lighter