[THS] BPs Methane Monster: From the Gulf to the Globe

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http://www.truth-out.org/bps-methane-monster-from-gulf-globe60623

BP's Methane Monster: From the Gulf to the Globe

Sunday 27 June 2010

by: Craig Collins, Ph.D., t r u t h o u t | Report

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(Image: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t; Adapted: flydime, kewl)

We hear a lot of talk about carbon dioxide as the most dangerous climate culprit. And
we should. So far, loading the atmosphere with CO2 is the single biggest cause of
climate disruption. But, in the final analysis, methane may prove to be the most
deadly of all greenhouse gases.

Unlike CO2, methane is flammable. BP's Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf was
triggered by a bubble of methane gas that escaped from the well and shot up the
drill column, expanding quickly as it burst through several seals and barriers before
exploding. The fiery blast killed 11 workers and sank the platform. Since then, an
estimated 210,000 gallons of oil has spewed into the Gulf every day, making it the
biggest oil spill in the US since the wreck of the Exxon Valdez in 1989.

Methane is a menace to coal mining. Mines use giant fans to keep this colorless,
odorless gas below dangerous concentrations. But if this fails, the tiniest spark can
set off a deadly blast. Methane explosions killed 29 miners in the Massey coal mine
disaster last month and claimed 12 miners in the Sago mine disaster back in 2006.

However, methane's explosive properties are a miniature menace compared to its
heat-trapping capacity. As a greenhouse gas, methane is about 25 times more
potent, molecule for molecule, than carbon dioxide. Today, the amount of methane
in our atmosphere is spiking at an alarming rate. Scientists studying this situation call
methane "a ticking time bomb," and warn that vast stores could be released from
frozen deposits on land and under the ocean in the coming decades.

Over the last few years, research ships in Arctic seas have found methane bubbling
and foaming on the surface. These "methane chimneys" are caused by 10-degree
jumps in temperature over eastern Siberia. Warmer temperatures cause methane to
be released from thawing tundra and from melting methane deposits beneath the
ocean. "These deposits rival fossil fuels in terms of their size. It's like having a whole
additional supply of coal, oil and natural gas out there that we can't control," says
James White, a geochemist at the University of Colorado.

The Siberian Shelf alone harbors an estimated 1,400 billion tons of methane - about
twice as much carbon as is contained in all the trees, grasses and flowers on the
planet. If just one percent of this escaped into the atmosphere within a few decades,
it would be enough to cause catastrophic, uncontrollable climate change. This
process could initiate a self-reinforcing feedback loop that would spiral out of control
even if we cut our greenhouse emissions to zero. Scientists have no idea how close
we are to crossing this point of no return, but the signs that we're approaching this
tipping point are growing every day.