4 ms·

These things really make me afraid of the Clathrate Gun going off

• derivagral 5y ago
  Is that described here? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis
  • dreamcompiler 5y ago
    Yes. There's also permafrost methane release [0]. Both involve positive feedback loops, and despite that terminology sounding like a good thing to the public, engineers know that positive feedback loops often mean something very, very bad has happened. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_methane_emissions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_methane_emissions
    • throwawaysea 5y ago
      Presumably it is not a truly unbounded feedback loop, since some process led to ice and permafrost forming in the first place. But I haven't studied that extensively - this is just my intuition.
      • dharmab 5y ago
        Sure, on a geological timescale, it's possible for very hot planets to cool down. However, geologicial timescales might as well be infinite compared to human timescales. https://xkcd.com/1732 https://xkcd.com/1732 is a good visualization of this.
• godshatter 5y ago
  Hopefully we'll get some good data on how much methane was released during this event.