<b>Destabilizing Marine Bed Methane Hydrates</b>

I have been wondering about this. I am an advocate of natural gas use being maximized.

Methane hydrates have been estimated to contain ten times as much methane as land based methane. Then their are peat bogs etc.

I seriously doubt that mankind has much to say about the course of global warming. I think that it is wiser to adapt to it. Possibly using the most volatile methane hydrates before they enter the atmosphere.

I predict that the world will be awash in relatively cheap natural gas in twenty years. This will be an economic catalyst which will enable economies around the world to improve. It will also greatly reduce pollution and CO2 emissions greatly, compared to coal.

How would the gas be dissipated before reaching the surface? That does not seem likely to me. Methane can commonly be seen bubbling to the surface in many lakes.

It is a problem to identify the cause of the releases of hydrates. There is much we still do not know about the volumes releases in natural phenomenon like earthquakes and even volcanic activity. There is very little monitoring of releases of hydrates yet the potential is enormous. A slide off Norway 8000 years ago (Storrega slide) still has effects today. There is recent activity in the Indian Ocean where three faults intersect, yet we have little knowledge of plate activity cycles and disturbances of hydrates that result. I could go on about the large quakes in the North Pacific, Haiti, or Chili or the too numerous smaller quakes that occur every day. So the question remains what comes first global warming and then hydrate releases or are the massive releases of hydrates actually influencing global warming at a scale we are now witness. You are correct that a cycle is a potential with global warming where the depth for hydrate stability is driven deeper allowing greater release of hydrates from the top of the stability zone. The climate models still have a lot of work to do before I disregard plate tectonics as a bigger influence on climate than man. If I was a betting man, I would bet on warmer climates and we will not stop it.

I appreciate you trying to get this information into the public domain.

Now you just have to get the people who've already made up their mind to understand what's being said.

Good luck.

Your discussion started with CO2 and somehow morphed into the discussion of methane. I must have missed something, as I don't see how they are connected.

Jon.

"Destabilizing Marine Bed Methane Hydrates"
Somewhat out of my comfort zone here, but the CO2 appears to be sequestered together with the methane...

CO2 is sequestered into our oceans through partial pressure with the atmosphere. This is a nutrient that is consumed through primary production. The organic matter that consumes this resource dies off and the sediments decompose depositing methane hydrates in intermediate waters. That's the connection... As far as farming methane hydrates it is a sensitive subject as these are not deeply buried deposits and we could destabilize the hydrates with little to no control of capturing the methane. The idea of tapping this resource would be a major engineering task. ... Lastly, a slow release of methane, a very volatile compound, would react and dissolve into our oceans. I think more than anything I question if this is a natural process during periods of climate change... The idea of a large release of methane hydrates at any given time is theoretical. It could happen... , but I would tend to think climate model is more plausible than the theory about sinking ships in the Bermuda Triangle.

The methane is formed from carbon from the organic matter that decomposes within the oceans. The organic matter is carried to the bottom with the sediments where it is biologically converted by anaerobic bacteria to methane. The methane is trapped in the ever snowing sediments within the ocean and by the formation of weak hydrogen cages (clathrates) or called hydrates in the ocean. These hydrates can be held in position by a layer of sediment, the great depth and cold temperatures within the ocean. Methane is a serious green house gas with about 25 times the potential of CO2. Methane will also be converted back to CO2 as it rises in the ocean and is oxidized in the upper layers of the oceans. It will be further oxidized in the atmosphere but some will enter the atmosphere as CH4. Detecting CH4 chimneys is very difficult as the ocean moves continuously and the conversions occur. The problem in identification is that these carbon sources will carry the same isotopic footprint of burning fossil fuels. Hydrates exist throughout the depths of the oceans and the depths reported for stabilizing are the top of the hydrate zone. They will also occur at much higher levels below this depth. CO2 and CH4 are related in origin through organic matter. And related in conversion backwards from CH4 to CO2..