What is the potential level of positive feedback that may come with the release of methane in the permafrost regions and continental shelves?

Given the potency of methane as a greenhouse gas, and also given the tremendous amount of methane stored both in the permafrost regions as well as the continental shelves, critical research needs to be done as to the level of positive feedback that may occur as some of this methane being released.

Massive releases of methane in earth’s past have played a pivotal role in dictating the direction and degree of climate change. While much attention has been given to carbon dioxide releases and sequestration, only a few scientists are currently studying methane releases going on in the thawing permafrost regions. Much more research needs to be conducted. The obstacles to doing this will be to move the focus of the press and policy makers from primarily carbon dioxide, to methane, as it is far more potent a greenhouse gas, and much more prone to significant positive feedback loops.

One comment

1. GlennTamblyn says:

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   This seems to me to be the single most important area of Climate Change research confronting us today. Because:

   1. We know so little about what is happening up there
   2. Low level emissions of Methane have already started
   3. We know very little about how Methane emission rates could climb as AGW proceeds beyond the current 0.8C
   4. Recent reports suggest that the volumes of carbon in the north could more than rival all human emmissions in their greenhouse impact
   5. This is one of the so called ‘tipping points’ that could move the Climate Change threat to a whole new level. And any sudden temperature increase due to the short term spike of warming impact from methane release could then trigger other positive feedback ‘tipping points’. Methane emissions could be the first domino in a chain of events that leads to catastrophic levels of AGW. We don’t know. And we need to.
   6. The potential for Methane emissions to escalate to serious levels rapidly means that we need some serious research fast to get a handle on what is happening.
   7. This has to be moved onto the worlds policy agenda. If methane emission rates started to climb rapidly over the next decade or so, current policy directions being discussed for Copenhagen may be woefully inadequate. Some have spoken of a Methane TimeBomb. With bubbles rising through lakes & pools and from the sea floor around the Arctic, it appears the bomb is ticking. And we can’t see the countdown timer.