At no time in the last 20 million years have levels of carbon dioxide increased as rapidly as at present. In addition to that, the current 1820ppb (and quickly rising) concentration of CH4 (methane) indicates we are rapidly on our way to an increase of over 16 degrees C which is consistent with climate disruptions during the Permian Mass Extinction event 250 million years ago. (Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide_in_Earth's_atmosphere)
By the end of the Permian Mass Extinction 95% of all life on planet Earth was dead. It took 10 million years for life to come back. This is referred to as "the Great Dying." We are already well into Earth's sixth mass extinction event, and species are dying at an unprecedented rate of 200 species per day. (Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian_mass_extinction)
A typical species will live for 10
million years. On Earth now, amphibians are going extinct at a rate of 45,000
times the ordinary background extinction rate. (Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction#Modern_extinctions)
The Gulf Stream sped up three times since 1940, and then in 2010 the Gulf Stream melted through the Arctic ice wall and began carrying gigajoules of heat along the Gakkel ridge onto the East Siberian Shelf and the Laptev Sea. (Reference: Gulf Stream Heating Siberian Sea http://arctic-news.blogspot.de/2014/06/arctic-atmospheric-methane-global-warming-veil.html)
There are over 2,200 gigatons of methane frozen under Siberian tundra and the Laptev Sea. Easily 50 gigatons could be released. There are only about 5 gigatons methane present in the global atmosphere now. Methane is 70-80 times stronger than CO2 as a greenhouse gas when compared over a 10 year span. The methane does not then become harmless. It oxidizes into CO2. (Reference: Natalia Shakhova via Sam Carana http://arctic-news.blogspot.de/2013/11/horrific-amounts-of-methane-over-laptev-sea.html)
Global temperature can jump up 5 degrees C in as little as 13 years. (Reference: Morgan Schaller & James Wright http://news.rutgers.edu/research-news/new-finding-shows-climate-change-can-happen-geological-instant/20131003#. Ux4PccdYFGm)
387 ppm CO2 is already catastrophic. The world has to be taken back to the 280 ppm of the pre-industrial era if global calamities are to be avoided. (Reference: James Hanson and colleagues www.juancole.com/2009/10/modern-day-levels-of-carbon-dioxide.html)
A 50 megaton release of methane from the Arctic Ocean seabed will cost $60 trillion. Research in the East Siberian Arctic Shelf has suggested that such a vast release of methane was possible, and continued exponential increase of methane could, within 20 years, reach a level where methane dominated over CO2 in global warming. Some researchers warn of a 50 gigaton burst being possible "at any time". (Reference: www.ameg.me/index.php)
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
8
6
5
