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The Story of the Second Greenhouse Gas – CH4
- The Permian Extinction – Siberian Burps 2014
- Scientific American reports that Arctic zones are warming at a breakneck pace, and summer 2014 was warmer than average by an alarming 9 degrees Fahrenheit, according to another story in Nature. As a result, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) think that permafrost, the permanently frozen ground that covers the tundra, is starting to thaw in these warmer temperatures.
- So how does frozen methane blow a 100-foot-wide hole in the ground?
- Given low-enough temperatures and high-enough pressure, methane and water can freeze together into what's called a "methane hydrate." Permafrost keeps everything bottled up, but when it thaws, so does the hydrate. Methane is released as a gas, building up pressure — until the ground explodes.
- http://www.businessinsider.com/russian-exploding-methane-craters-global-warming-2016-3