Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Alaska’s thawing soils are now pouring carbon dioxide into the air

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 214 posts

Re: Alaska’s thawing soils are now pouring carbon dioxide into the air

#121

Post by mark-r »

ancientworldnow wrote: post #98
kdoherty wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The phenomenon that is being described where melting ice causes the release of CO2 into the atmosphere seems to have been known to climate scientists, though I don't know whether it has been included in climate change models. There is a great talk (video online here: https://www.facebook.com/WoodsHoleOcean/videos/1015459031268... ) by Richard Alley where exactly this phenomenon is mentioned (see Q&A at ~50:55 in the…

The latest IPCC report does not account for Arctic methane release. There were too many variables and they decided to omit it and avoid being alarmist. This is discussed on page 28 of WG1 AR5 SPM (the final 2013 IPCC policy maker report).

But this report is about CO2, not Methane. Methane is yet another reason to be worried.

Re: Alaska’s thawing soils are now pouring carbon dioxide into the air

#122

Post by moultano »

mirimir wrote: post #70
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the major flaws of this species is that we don't do anything inconvenient, that requires global agreement, until it becomes literally an existential threat. And even then we may dither, and there will be special interests that will keep spreading out misinformation about it, etc. Seriously, the "sapiens" part in the name of our species is a bit of an exaggeration.

I'm reminded of Stephenson's Seveneves .

I would have never imagined that a book about the utter obliteration of the world could be so hopeful.

Re: Alaska’s thawing soils are now pouring carbon dioxide into the air

#123

Post by jacquesm »

B1FF_PSUVM wrote: post #14
candiodari wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was never true that human industry was the main cause of co2 release into the atmosphere. Which is one of the reasons to doubt that all those climate accords will have any influence on global warming at all. > "Sooner and worse than expected" is a phrase I expect to hear with increasing frequency. If you increase the input into self-reinforcing feedback loop that is exactly what you'd expect to happen. Not that at…

> Feedback loops are notoriously hard to mitigate. "Amplifiers that oscillate and oscillators that won't are the two great fears of analog designers."

So you work hard to keep that feedback gain under '1' in an amplifier and over '1' in an oscillator.

Technically an amplifier with a feedback mechanism can become an oscillator and if you break the feedback loop in an oscillator you end up with 'just' an amplifier.

To make this even more interesting: a negative feedback element in an amplifier will greatly enhance the frequency response at the expense of amplification (and will vastly reduce the chances of that amplifier turning into an oscillator).

Re: Alaska’s thawing soils are now pouring carbon dioxide into the air

#124

Post by stcredzero »

mirimir wrote: post #82
stcredzero wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Methane is a very potent greenhouse gas, and the release would be absolutely huge. The momentary spike would well cause a lot of CO2 to be released.

On a positive note, while it may not suffice to save human civilization, CO2 likely won't get baked out of rocks. Or at least, it hasn't after previous "methane gun" events.

What has been released after the previous "methane gun" events?

Re: Alaska’s thawing soils are now pouring carbon dioxide into the air

#125

Post by topspin »

cmurf wrote: post #33
topspin wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"You basically have to believe tens of thousands of scientist are liars to accept the first statement" The first statement, that human industry is not "the main cause of co2 release," is undisputed fact. This is what the DOE says [1]: "Natural CO2 sources account for the majority of CO2 released into the atmosphere." and "Carbon dioxide comes from both natural and anthropogenic sources; natural sources are predominan…

That page says: Myth: Carbon dioxide comes only from anthropogenic sources, especially from the burning of fossil fuels. Jesus is a myth. The above statement is not something any thinking person has ever considered. You'd have to be a moron to think CO2 only comes from human source. Of course CO2 predates mankind, as well as mandkind's activities. Positioning something that no one is claiming as if it's something som…

"But this is what you'd expect from a DOE run by an oilman and climate change denier."

I assume you refer to Rick Perry. In point of fact the myth/reality portion of the page has been unchanged since at least September of 2015 [1], at which time Obama appointee Ernest Moniz was Secretary of Energy. Dr. Moniz has never denied the fact that the climate is changing, as far as I'm aware.

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20150912221729/https://www.netl....

Re: Alaska’s thawing soils are now pouring carbon dioxide into the air

#126

Post by mark-r »

stale2002 wrote: post #99
specialist wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe (but cannot prove, obviously) that we're way past the tipping point. Meaning simply reducing anthropocentric emissions, even down to zero, will not meaningfully impact atomspheric CO2, methane. For civilization to survive, we must adapt, mitigate, or both.

The scientific consensus is that sea levels will rise by 1-2 meters over the course of 200 years. Thats the science. And it doesn't sound like extinction to me.

Sea levels aren't the only source of trouble. Changing rainfall amounts for example would impact our ability to grow crops.

Yes, extinction seems unlikely. But the planet's ability to support the current population could easily be a casualty.

Re: Alaska’s thawing soils are now pouring carbon dioxide into the air

#128

Post by mirimir »

moultano wrote: post #122
mirimir wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm reminded of Stephenson's Seveneves .

I would have never imagined that a book about the utter obliteration of the world could be so hopeful .

Indeed. I'd say more, but spoilers.

Re: Alaska’s thawing soils are now pouring carbon dioxide into the air

#129

Post by sedachv »

Boothroid wrote: post #32
EGreg wrote: post #25

Can someone PLEASE tell me why there haven't been more efforts underway to have commnities around the world plant more trees and engage in planned reforestation? This is as close as you can get to a globally available mechanism for pulling carbon dioxide out of the air (and methane can burn leaving carbon dioxide). I mean this very seriously. Richard Branson is looking to fund ways to pull Carbon out if the atmospher…

Couldn't agree more. Here in the UK we have a lower percentage of forested land than many other European countries and I much prefer forest to the barren green fields which we have in many places. Sadly I think lots of my countrymen think of green fields being the default state of rural UK and don't realise it's the legacy of deforestation by stone age man.. I can only imagine what the UK must have been like prior to…

> Sadly I think lots of my countrymen think of green fields being the default state of rural UK and don't realise it's the legacy of deforestation by stone age man..

Much if not most of the deforestation in the United Kingdom took place in the Middle Ages and later, to extract resources during the Industrial Revolution. For example the Caledonian Forest in Scotland experienced massive destruction following the Highland Clearances in the 18th and 19th centuries. William the Conqueror had large tracts of forested land set aside as protected parks that were later destroyed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_forests

Post reply on HN