A new ominous sign

Maybe all that methane in the atmosphere isn’t the cows’ fault after all:

Scientists have discovered the Arctic ocean seabed is leaking huge amounts of methane into the atmosphere.

The research published in the journal Science shows the permafrost under the East Siberian Arctic shelf, which was thought to be a barrier sealing methane, is perforated.

Scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences say more methane will be released if the permafrost is further destabilised.

CSIRO spokesman Pep Canadell says the study identifies a possibly overlooked source of methane in the atmosphere.

"Maybe before we were wrongly attributing it to cows or rice paddies or whatever, all the major sources of methane we have," Mr Canadell said.

"And now when we measure fluctuations in the atmospheric methane concentration we can more properly attribute where these sources are coming from."

He says the study provides, for the first time, an estimate of the contribution of the Arctic to overall methane emissions.

Current average methane concentrations in the Arctic are the highest in 400,000 years.

Melting permafrost? Well, gee, what could possibly be causing that, I wonder?

This certainly is an interesting (albeit unnerving) discovery, in that it once again shows us how there’s always something unexpected that’s gonna pop up sooner or later, probably from right under our noses, and explain things that didn’t make all that much sense previously. (Seriously, anyone who really believed that the current atmospheric methane rates – noted as being the highest in 400,000 years – are caused mostly by cows and rice paddies and such, really need to get some sense of proportion.)

So, the northern permafrost is so destabilized that it’s actually perforated enough to allow a vast amount of subterranean gas to seep through. And yet, just wait: the usual cranks will doubtlessly be all up in arms and scurrying to lie, distort and confuse to try and deny how this could have anything to do with global warming. I mean, it’s obvious that the ice is just screwing with us for its own amusement, of course! Wait, what? That’s just silly? Well, it can’t possibly be that the region is warming up … despite plenty of empirical scientific research data confirming it …

Global warming: always finding new and better ways to taunt us as it approaches.