Burning Ice
So some time in the past there was enough methane in the air to be locked into ice as it crystalized.
This is too strange. And you thought humans are warming the earth. How did all this methane get generated? Dinasaur flatulence? With all of this killer GHG around how did it get cold enough to trap in ice? Is the earth itself a bigger source of our heat than what we get from the sun? Since we are in a warming cycle now will the glaciers start advancing in 5,000 years as the next ice age approaches? Does all this have to do with the periodic reversal of the magnetic poles?
The whole image of burning ice boggles the mind. Here is the article from whence the above image came. It deals with energy exploration, but I have other questions to think about.
Have you ever seen ice burn?
It will, when the ice contains methane gas,…
Methane needs extremely cold temperatures and pressure to stay in its solid form. BP says it new this form of methane was under the tundra all along.
- Posted in : Environment, In the News, Renewable Energy, Science
- Author :Rt
Comments»
Methane trapped in ice did not get there from the air. This methane is from rotting dead stuff at the bottom of the ocean. When things die in the ocean they sink, when they pile up they rot, when they rot they produce methane, in really cold dense areas the freezing water forms ice, the methane is trapped in the ice and whalla, you get methane filled ice that burns. This is actually a way to take green house gasses OUT of the atmosphere, and helps to keep our planet cooler. To produce frozen methane you would need a climate much like Pluto. (methanes freezing point is -182.5 C) I would say your first statement is pretty inaccurate.
If we start to melt this ice and release this methane back into the air it will have a drastic and sudden warming effect. As methane is a much more effective green house gas than co2.
The entire process of sequestering carbon in this way is very similar to the way oil gas and coal are made. The earth has been storing up solar energy for years and years in the form of coal, oil, gas and trapped methane, we foolish humans have been releasing all that stored up energy too fast and in silly ways. The unintended consequence being global warming.
Thanks for sending me in the research direction. Seems we’ve known about this ice for some time and everyone neglected to inform me :)
Ok, so there’s huge abounts of it and we’re waiting for it to melt and kill us all. Did you know about the worms? Seems they eat the stutt. You should check out the pictures. Especially this one:
http://www.science.psu.edu/iceworms/smallbwworm.gif