Comments on: Tied for second place https://habitablezone.com/2019/09/20/tied-for-second-place/ Sun, 05 Apr 2026 21:05:37 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: DanS https://habitablezone.com/2019/09/20/tied-for-second-place/#comment-43699 DanS Sat, 21 Sep 2019 18:59:43 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=78416#comment-43699 Clathrate: A naturally occurring compound formation where molecules of one component/element are physically trapped/encased within the crystalline structure of another. Huge amounts of methane are stored around the world in the sea floor in the form of solid methane hydrates. These hydrates represent a large energy reserve for humanity. Climate warming, however, could cause the hydrates to destabilize. The methane, a potent greenhouse gas, would escape unused into the atmosphere and could even accelerate climate change. <a href="https://worldoceanreview.com/en/wor-1/ocean-chemistry/climate-change-and-methane-hydrates/" rel="nofollow">world ocean review</a> Clathrate:
A naturally occurring compound formation where molecules of one component/element are physically trapped/encased within the crystalline structure of another.

Huge amounts of methane are stored around the world in the sea floor in the form of solid methane hydrates. These hydrates represent a large energy reserve for humanity. Climate warming, however, could cause the hydrates to destabilize. The methane, a potent greenhouse gas, would escape unused into the atmosphere and could even accelerate climate change.

world ocean review

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2019/09/20/tied-for-second-place/#comment-43697 ER Sat, 21 Sep 2019 16:37:41 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=78416#comment-43697 Sept 18th 2019 was the SECOND lowest SIE of the last 40 years, just a shade lower than 2007, now relegated to third place.. Only the minimum of 2012 was any lower. In a couple of weeks NSIDC will publish the September SIE average, a much more robust and useful figure than smooths out a lot of the day-to-day variability. Why is this important? It shows that not only is the sea ice at the North Pole is disappearing, but that the ice loss has been most severe in the last decade. Each September in the 21st century has been warmer than all the last 30 years of the 20th century for which ice data has been available. The trend is not only down, it is dropping faster. It is not a cyclical or oscillating process, the bottom is just dropping out of the curve. There is no doubt in my mind we will have our first ice-free summer polar sea within the next decade, and that we will have our first ice-free Arctic year-round before the end of this century. I have no doubt this will have profound consequences for the rest of the world, even places that are nowhere near the Arctic. Sept 18th 2019 was the SECOND lowest SIE of the last 40 years, just a shade lower than 2007, now relegated to third place.. Only the minimum of 2012 was any lower.

In a couple of weeks NSIDC will publish the September SIE average, a much more robust and useful figure than smooths out a lot of the day-to-day variability.

Why is this important? It shows that not only is the sea ice at the North Pole is disappearing, but that the ice loss has been most severe in the last decade. Each September in the 21st century has been warmer than all the last 30 years of the 20th century for which ice data has been available. The trend is not only down, it is dropping faster. It is not a cyclical or oscillating process, the bottom is just dropping out of the curve.

There is no doubt in my mind we will have our first ice-free summer polar sea within the next decade, and that we will have our first ice-free Arctic year-round before the end of this century. I have no doubt this will have profound consequences for the rest of the world, even places that are nowhere near the Arctic.

]]>