The fossil CO2 is going out Permafrost

In July of 2014 irrupts the amazing news of the discovery in Permafrost one huge crater of about 80 meters in diameter in a remote part of Siberi, specifically in Yamal Peninsula. The needed of the time to arrive until this far region, created a mount of urban tales that what could it be. From first images we can observe the considerable. The news had spread like wildfire because of the legend of "Well to Hell" (Well where we could go down to hell) that is supposed to Siberia, although this urban legend is the result of the craters produced by opencast Russian that can be seen from satellite. Several hypotheses have been considered. First they think about the possibility of a meteorite, probably induced by the psychosis that produced the massive drop in a year, but can rule out the tubular shape of it. Today we know taht is a gas explosion, logical that area is the largest number of farms and gas resources of Russia, and also in very small scale found in the Permafrost Area for similar craters due to this phenomenon.

Siberian hole discober in July of 2014

The Global Warming melting the continental ice (as explained in "The great flood") because of the large expanses of Greenland and Antarctica, the Permafrost are immense beds of continental ice melt and also contribute to increase the sea level. Actually the Permafrost contributes a lot in the Climate Change. Ice retains that dissolved gases when the liquid was water. Especially CO2 and CH4 (methane: natural gas). The clean ice has little methane but Permafrost is frozen peat that microbial life decays very slowly. The putrefaction of this peat generates methane is combined with ice water creating Methane Hydrides freeze also leaving the CH4 captured on ice.

However a recent study “Winters in Siberian permafrost regions have warmed since millennia” shows a warming of Permafrost since 7,000 years ago. Obviously it doesn’t mean that Global warming is a hoax or the no human hand in this climate phenomenon. Really as I write in “The drop that makes a glass overflows”, Climate Change is a combination of two factor, natural trend and a little (or big) human help.

So it is not surprising that in his immense permafrost Russia is supplying gas to Europe and soon to China. But global warming is melting the ice and creating methane hydrides bags, which combined with salt and internal movements of the same Permafrost (essentially due to the same thaw), explode and release gases into the atmosphere.

The size of the current crater on one side is worrying because it is the size of a hoses apple and adds a hazard to people and facilities (high risk because they are oil exploration); and secondly indicate an acceleration of the process of melting ice also detected in Greenland and Antarctic Peninsula. Speeding Melting Permafrost also involve increased speed of global warming due to the release of greenhouse gases trapped in it.

But does this mean that it's unleashing the entry of a new Cretaceous? Not necessarily, in fact if the melting Permafrost what would happen according to some modeling is quite the opposite; return to an Ice Age. Melt the permafrost and Greenland, freshwater would fill the Arctic Ocean. In fact this is what happens, Arctic doesn’t desalinate, because fresh water doesn’t mix with the salt, but is forming a huge bubble of fresh water in the center. Freshwater trapped there would only be a matter of time before this was over diluting the salt, but continued contribution makes it grow rather than diluted. The combined action of the circumpolar currents and ice bench of Pole keep supporting this fresh water, even if it grows more will end incoming into the Atlantic Ocean flow; fresh water is lighter than salt sinking below the current Thermohaline and preventing it can release its heat to Western Europe causing the entry of a new ice age (read “The day after tomorrow").

A curiosity in Siberia is not good news for our world. Studies confirm the acceleration (not the stop) of Global warming. Certainly all the responsibility of this climate threat isn’t human, but today we face the great challenge of climate, and every day goes out new evidence on the Climate Change that economic powers try to minimize. Russia has a vested interest in minimizing the incident, but considering that their wealth is aposentada on foundations that melt they fall to the idea of seeing a disaster as BP in the Gulf of Mexico, if before the Carbon Bubble will explode their dependent oil economy.