Interlinked Climate & Energy Challenges

2010Feb22: Global atmospheric levels of methane (CH4) increased by about 7 parts per billion per year during 2007 and 2008, according to Professor Euan Nisbet, of Royal Holloway College of the University of London, and Dr Ed Dlugokencky of the Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado, which is run by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Global atmospheric levels of the Methane (CH4) are currently at about 1,790 parts per billion. In 1984, Methane levels were at about 1,630 parts per billion. According to Michael McCarthy, the Environment Editor of The Independent: “Many climate scientists think that frozen Arctic tundra, like this at Sermermiut in Greenland, is a ticking time bomb in terms of global warming, because it holds vast amounts of methane, an immensely potent greenhouse gas. Over thousands of years the methane has accumulated under the ground at northern latitudes all around the world, and has effectively been taken out of circulation by the permafrost acting as an impermeable lid. But as the permafrost begins to melt in rising temperatures, the lid may open – with potentially catastrophic results” (The Independent).

Reference: The Independent http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/methane-levels-may-see-runaway-rise-scientists-warn-1906484.html

Image Description: Arctic Tundra – Barrow, Alaska. Photo by  MarmotChaser, 2008July. Image Location: Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arctic_tundra_in_July.jpg Image Permission: This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.