Re: [geo] Open-Access Review paper: Gas Hydrate Breakdown Unlikely to Cause Massive Greenhouse Gas Release

[Hawkins, Dave]

It is egregious that our governments are not treating the risk of gas hydrate 
releases due to our failure to address climate disruption but it is perhaps 
even more egregious that the U.S. and several other governments are actively 
promoting the intentional release of GHGs from this enormous reservoir.


From: Andrew Revkin <rev...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2017 10:38 AM
To: Hawkins, Dave
Cc: kcalde...@gmail.com; Geoengineering
Subject: Re: [geo] Open-Access Review paper: Gas Hydrate Breakdown Unlikely to 
Cause Massive Greenhouse Gas Release

But isn't the prime question - at least the one driving most discussions of 
"emergency" actions up north - catastrophic release?

Pretty clear this review damps down that concern, along with the papers last 
year pointing to post-2010 methane concentration rise being mainly 
tropical/biogenic.

e.g.>  
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/12/why-atmospheric-methane-surging-hint-its-not-fracking



On Sun, Feb 12, 2017 at 10:11 AM, Hawkins, Dave 
<dhawk...@nrdc.org<mailto:dhawk...@nrdc.org>> wrote:
Th bigger risk for it reaching the atmosphere would be from producing it 
commercially.  Congress has directed our DOE to come up with a plan to do 
exactly that.

Sent from my iPad

On Feb 12, 2017, at 9:34 AM, Ken Caldeira 
<kcalde...@carnegiescience.edu<mailto:kcalde...@carnegiescience.edu>> wrote:

https://www.usgs.gov/news/gas-hydrate-breakdown-unlikely-cause-massive-greenhouse-gas-release
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016RG000534/full
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016RG000534/pdf

[Reviews of 
Geophysics]<http://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1944-9208>

Review Article
The interaction of climate change and methane hydrates
Carolyn D. Ruppel, John D. Kessler
Abstract

Gas hydrate, a frozen, naturally-occurring, and highly-concentrated form of 
methane, sequesters significant carbon in the global system and is stable only 
over a range of low-temperature and moderate-pressure conditions. Gas hydrate 
is widespread in the sediments of marine continental margins and permafrost 
areas, locations where ocean and atmospheric warming may perturb the hydrate 
stability field and lead to release of the sequestered methane into the 
overlying sediments and soils. Methane and methane-derived carbon that escape 
from sediments and soils and reach the atmosphere could exacerbate greenhouse 
warming. The synergy between warming climate and gas hydrate dissociation feeds 
a popular perception that global warming could drive catastrophic methane 
releases from the contemporary gas hydrate reservoir. Appropriate evaluation of 
the two sides of the climate-methane hydrate synergy requires assessing direct 
and indirect observational data related to gas hydrate dissociation phenomena 
and numerical models that track the interaction of gas hydrates/methane with 
the ocean and/or atmosphere. Methane hydrate is likely undergoing dissociation 
now on global upper continental slopes and on continental shelves that ring the 
Arctic Ocean. Many factors—the depth of the gas hydrates in sediments, strong 
sediment and water column sinks, and the inability of bubbles emitted at the 
seafloor to deliver methane to the sea-air interface in most cases—mitigate the 
impact of gas hydrate dissociation on atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations 
though. There is no conclusive proof that hydrate-derived methane is reaching 
the atmosphere now, but more observational data and improved numerical models 
will better characterize the climate-hydrate synergy in the future.

Ken Caldeira
Carnegie Institution for Science
Dept of Global Ecology
260 Panama St
Stanford CA 94305 USA
+1 650 704 7212<tel:(650)%20704-7212>
http://dge.stanford.edu/labs/caldeiralab
<http://dge.stanford.edu/labs/caldeiralab>

Assistant, with access to incoming emails: Jess Barker 
jbar...@carnegiescience.edu<mailto:jbar...@carnegiescience.edu>


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Re: [geo] Open-Access Review paper: Gas Hydrate Breakdown Unlikely to Cause Massive Greenhouse Gas Release

[Andrew Revkin]

But isn't the prime question - at least the one driving most discussions of
"emergency" actions up north - catastrophic release?

Pretty clear this review damps down that concern, along with the papers
last year pointing to post-2010 methane concentration rise being mainly
tropical/biogenic.

e.g.>
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/12/why-atmospheric-methane-surging-hint-its-not-fracking



On Sun, Feb 12, 2017 at 10:11 AM, Hawkins, Dave  wrote:

> Th bigger risk for it reaching the atmosphere would be from producing it
> commercially.  Congress has directed our DOE to come up with a plan to do
> exactly that.
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On Feb 12, 2017, at 9:34 AM, Ken Caldeira 
> wrote:
>
> https://www.usgs.gov/news/gas-hydrate-breakdown-unlikely-
> cause-massive-greenhouse-gas-release
> http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016RG000534/full
> http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016RG000534/pdf
>
> [image: Reviews of Geophysics]
> 
>
> Review Article The interaction of climate change and methane hydrates
> Carolyn D. Ruppel, John D. Kessler
> Abstract
>
> Gas hydrate, a frozen, naturally-occurring, and highly-concentrated form
> of methane, sequesters significant carbon in the global system and is
> stable only over a range of low-temperature and moderate-pressure
> conditions. Gas hydrate is widespread in the sediments of marine
> continental margins and permafrost areas, locations where ocean and
> atmospheric warming may perturb the hydrate stability field and lead to
> release of the sequestered methane into the overlying sediments and soils.
> Methane and methane-derived carbon that escape from sediments and soils and
> reach the atmosphere could exacerbate greenhouse warming. The synergy
> between warming climate and gas hydrate dissociation feeds a popular
> perception that global warming could drive catastrophic methane releases
> from the contemporary gas hydrate reservoir. Appropriate evaluation of the
> two sides of the climate-methane hydrate synergy requires assessing direct
> and indirect observational data related to gas hydrate dissociation
> phenomena and numerical models that track the interaction of gas
> hydrates/methane with the ocean and/or atmosphere. Methane hydrate is
> likely undergoing dissociation now on global upper continental slopes and
> on continental shelves that ring the Arctic Ocean. Many factors—the depth
> of the gas hydrates in sediments, strong sediment and water column sinks,
> and the inability of bubbles emitted at the seafloor to deliver methane to
> the sea-air interface in most cases—mitigate the impact of gas hydrate
> dissociation on atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations though. There is
> no conclusive proof that hydrate-derived methane is reaching the atmosphere
> now, but more observational data and improved numerical models will better
> characterize the climate-hydrate synergy in the future.
>
> Ken Caldeira
> Carnegie Institution for Science
> Dept of Global Ecology
> 260 Panama St
> Stanford CA 94305 USA
> +1 650 704 7212 <(650)%20704-7212>
> http://dge.stanford.edu/labs/caldeiralab
> 
>
> Assistant, with access to incoming emails: Jess Barker
> jbar...@carnegiescience.edu
>
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> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
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> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
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>



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