| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Captain Compassion" |
| Date: |
22 May 2007 10:30:52 AM |
| Object: |
Permafrost thaw study gives good prognosis |
Permafrost thaw study gives good prognosis
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070521-09395400-bc-germany-permafrost.xml
HANOVER, Germany, May 21 (UPI) -- German scientists re-examining
projected melting of Arctic permafrost from global warming say massive
releases of methane are unlikely this century.
Scientists say as the Earth's climate warms, permafrost will continue
melting and methane bound in frozen sediments could escape into the
atmosphere. Because methane is a greenhouse gas, that would exacerbate
global warming.
One permafrost model, presented in late 2005, indicated near-surface
Arctic permafrost would completely degrade during the 21st century.
But Georg Delisle and colleagues at the Federal Institution for
Geosciences and Natural Resources in Hanover offer an alternative
model designed to have a more complete mathematical formulation of the
physical processes in permafrost.
The German researchers note that ice-core analyses previously made by
other scientists indicate minimal release of methane during warm
periods occurring during the last 9,000 years.
Based on the new model and the ice-core findings, Delisle concluded
that scenarios calling for massive releases of methane in the near
future from degrading permafrost are questionable.
The research is detailed in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
--
There may come a time when the CO2 police will wander the earth telling
the poor and the dispossed how many dung chips they can put on their
cook fires. -- Captain Compassion.
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Celibacy in healthy human beings is a form of
insanity. -- Captain Compassion
"Civilization is the interval between Ice Ages." -- Will Durant.
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
.
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