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Melting permafrost cause huge underground methane explosions in Siberia
- jojobas 6y agoNot the kind of methane explosions you're thinking, more like small cold eruptions.
- teruakohatu 6y agoJust FYI Siberian Times has been prone to exaggeration of science in the past. While I am not disputing underground methane explosions happen, it is worth reading ST with a health dose of skepticism. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Siberian_Times https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Siberian_Times
- hanselot 6y agoTo be fair, this same exact sentiment holds true for every publication in existence, since entering the digital era. No secondary or tertiary sources are deemed acceptable anymore. Everything seems to be entirely based on primary sources now, while simultaneously, trust in primary sources is being eroded by deepfake tech in audio and video. So in the end, we will need to find a way to create consensus of what happened in reality, to a degree that sufficiently satisfies all people that want information on a topic. A blockchain for accountability in journalism should be established, whereby they are paid for their work by providing and verifying accurate information. Said blockchain could also be used to manage the entire lifecycle of what is deemed fact. Over time, a rating system will establish the best in their profession while also working out the bad actors. The tricky thing to me would be figuring out who should manage the rating system, as that would be akin to being a guardian of all historic fact. And as we know, rating systems are a suppression mechanism in the hands of the majority groupthink opinion. I'm not an expert on any of this, and I can already find flaws in this implementation, but I think we should really figure out a way to deal with the situation we have created for ourselves, since, you know, we probably gotta live with this crap for several more years.
- mparramon 6y agoThis reminds me of The Swarm [1], a fiction book that starts with freak events happening around the world's oceans. The first of them is about a species of marine worms that, together with bacteria, destabilise the methane clathrate in the continental shelf. This causes the continental slope to collapse, creating a tsunami that hits the North Sea's coasts and kills millions. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swarm_(Sch%C3%A4tzing_novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Swarm_(Sch%C3%A4tzing_nove...
- tonetheman 6y agoSecond recommend. Fun read.
- peteretep 6y agoBeing able to blame climate change on Russia will help it get bipartisan agreement in Congress at least! (not sure if joking)
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- airhead969 6y agoPlease edit the title to remove "explosions," because it's definitely not a confined detonation.
- simonh 6y agoMany of the big ones do ignite, which is believed to be caused by electrostatic discharges from friction as the eruption starts. Three of these have been witnessed and they confirmed a bright flash accompanying the eruption.
- ovi256 6y agoThe ignition can only take place after the mound has been ripped apart and a lot of gas has escaped and mixed with oxygen. There's no oxygen in the underground gas pocket.
- simonh 6y agoSo what? You don't need to have detonation in order to have an explosion. However once this thing breaches the surface it does detonate.
- airhead969 6y agoSnark is unnecessary. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Is there any proof of detonation? I can't find any references to that occurring. It seems to be an entirely mechanical process.
- simonh 6y agoSure, we have eyewitness accounts. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201130-climate-change-the-mystery-of-siberias-explosive-craters https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201130-climate-change-t... "Local reindeer herders reported seeing flames and smoke after one crater explosion in June 2017" https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8705517/430-gas-bombs-discovered-Arctic-risk-exploding-creating-huge-craters.html https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8705517/430-gas-bom... "Only three of the 17 known eruptions so far were seen by witnesses, and in each case there was an explosion with fire, said the professor."
- chr1 6y agoAnd the only way to prevent this is for Russia to become a major meat producer and to convert northern forests into grassland, like they were before our intervention. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene_Park https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene_Park. Sadly there are not enough people, and not enough economic freedom in Russia to make this into reality.
- dmos62 6y agoHow does converting forests into grassland help?
- dmos62 6y agoAnswering my own question. From Wiki article: > The primary aim of Pleistocene Park is to recreate the mammoth steppe (ancient taiga/tundra grasslands that were widespread in the region during the last ice age). The key concept is that animals, rather than climate, maintained that ecosystem. Reintroducing large herbivores to Siberia would then initiate a positive feedback loop promoting the reestablishment of grassland ecosystems. This argument is the basis for rewilding Pleistocene Park's landscape with megafauna that were previously abundant in the area, as evidenced by the fossil record. > ... > Zimov and colleagues argue for a reversed order of environmental change in the mammoth steppe. Humans, with their constantly improving technology, overhunted the large herbivores and led to their extinction and extirpation.[8][9][11][12] Without herbivores grazing and trampling over the land, mosses, shrubs and trees were able to take over and replace the grassland ecosystem.[8][9][11][12] If the grasslands were destroyed because herbivore populations were decimated by human hunting, then "it stands to reason that those landscapes can be reconstituted by the judicious return of appropriate herbivore communities." > ... > A secondary aim is to research the climatic effects of the expected changes in the ecosystem. Here the key concept is that some of the effects of the large herbivores, such as eradicating trees and shrubs or trampling snow, will result in a stronger cooling of the ground in the winter, leading to less thawing of permafrost during summer and thereby less emission of greenhouse gases.
- rob74 6y ago
- ctas 6y agoAre there any pictures of what's inside the hole? After melting permafrost uncovered many items of archeological interest, I wonder what one may find in one of these craters.
- Sharas_ 6y ago"comes from a team of Russian scientists from the Oil and Gas Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Science" Perhaps just stop working for psychopats taking us down with them?
- selimthegrim 6y agoGubkin was a very good school back in USSR times because the packed a lot of the “undesirables” who were undesirable for being too good at math and physics off there
- aaron695 6y agoI'd call bullshit, but is seems like real fiery explosions throwing 100 tonne objects and some material 300 meters. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341905295_Complex_of_Geophysical_Studies_of_the_Seyakha_Catastrophic_Gas_Blowout_Crater_on_the_Yamal_Peninsula_Russian_Arctic https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341905295_Complex_o... You'd think some sort of satellites, like a lightning satellite would pick it up.
- ianai 6y agoGreat link! There are indeed photos there. This should link to the coordinates of some explosions too: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Coordinates-of-the-gas-blowout-craters-on-the-Yamal-Peninsula_tbl1_341905295 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Coordinates-of-the-gas-b...
- aaron695 6y agoHere's a pic of a post 'explosion' cloud (7th page)- http://eng.arctica-ac.ru/docs/journals/33/earth-decontamination-in-the-arctic-remote-and-field-studies-of-the-seyakha-acci.pdf http://eng.arctica-ac.ru/docs/journals/33/earth-decontaminat... Google will translate the document for the details. Still unclear how much the ignition of the gas is part of the power. Word of the day: Cryovolcanism
- libertine 6y agoHonest question - in the event of the release of entrapped methane under permafrost, what would be better: - To have it released to the atmosphere? - To have it combusted? I understand that these explosions are dangerous, but would it be better to have it slowly leak to atmosphere?
- bob1029 6y agoMethane is far more impactful a greenhouse gas than CO2 is, so burning it off could be viewed as a superior alternative if we are concerned about the environment. Clean-burning methane should only produce CO2 and water.
- ethbr0 6y agoWhat would clean burning entail? I assume something like piping into the mound, then flaring with a Venturi mixer?
- polishdude20 6y agoProbably combusted as it would turn into CO2 rather than stay as methane which is a much worse greenhouse gas.
- cjbenedikt 6y agoWhat's the situation in Alaska then?
- NotChina 6y agoThe real issue for performance is the second CPU is accessed via the primary pic.