BBC Focus Magazine

[KingPhillip]

http://www.independent.co.uk/environmen ... 76134.html

"In a very small area, less than 10,000 square miles, we have counted more than 100 fountains, or torch-like structures [each more than 1,000 metres in diameter], bubbling through the water column and injected directly into the atmosphere from the seabed," Dr Semiletov said.

Beautiful and scary. Beautiful like the colorful hot air balloons taking off at sunrise and drift towards the east. Scary like the feared nuclear holocaust should nations just launch them all and see who is left standing.

Is there technology to draw out the remaining bubbles' methane?

[M Paul Lloyd]

Its this bit that worries me.

In a very small area, less than 10,000 square miles

I don't really see how they can think of a very small area as something that covers almost 10,000 square miles of sea bed! Therefore I feel that the process of building something that could harvest this Methane would cost more than any actual energy gain.
Sorry.

[Shadowwolf]

Relatively speaking it's a small area, yes it is probably too large to harvest for energy generation purposes but that's not the point here.

The point is that significant quantities of methane that were previously locked away in frozen ground are now entering the atmosphere as temperatures go up. Something that could create a negative feedback loop dumping an ever increasing volume of methane into the atmosphere and accelerating climate change. Exactly what appears to be happening.

[M Paul Lloyd]

Ironically this Methane may well indicate the location of large deposits of fossil fuels trapped under the sea bed which, if polar ice ever retreats far enough, could become the target of a whole new generation of oil and gas exploration.

[KingPhillip]

In terms of geo-engineering, can the "very small area" be flash-frozen to reduce the amount of methane surfacing and buy time to harvest the methane into storage and processing?

As dangerous as it seems, am I over-rating this? Will the negative feedback loop compound simply, logarithmically or hyperbolically? Should we respond as if an asteroid strike is highly probable?

This was discovered in July and nary a public report of modelling of impact.

[Lateralman]

Well spotted sir, that has thrown a spanner in the works of any climate change treaty.

Let us just carry on as normal. Hang on a mo’... doesn’t this make the time line on any decision even more urgent?

[M Paul Lloyd]

It means that we are at least ten years to late Lateral'.