Siberian Times states that thousands of bulging methane gas bubbles have been located in Siberia. These are thought to explode to form the giant craters found in the area. Scientist say it's thawing permafrost releasing methane caused by elevated temperatures. Article contains amazing pictures.
Similar observations have been made around the Arctic regions. This is a cause for concern as methane is a potent greenhouse gas creating a positive feedback loop; there is potential for a chain reaction.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 25 2017, @08:34PM (2 children)
Look at long-term climate history here [wikipedia.org] and here [wikimedia.org].
As someone who has tuned up many feedback loops, I would argue that if the system were prone to heating from positive feedback at this temperature, past maxima would have been higher. In fact, current temperature is near a peak of oscillation, and there is real risk of strong cooling over the next 10,000 years. It's not like climate "science" can explain these temperature cycles.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 26 2017, @11:05AM
You do realize those history charts are also produced by climate science? Science isn't perfect but it's the only thing we have.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Wednesday March 29 2017, @08:40AM
It looks like it's been a bit more than 100,000 years since similar or higher temperatures occurred. If methane has been accumulating for much of that time, it could be a goodly amount that's about to be released.