Methane hydrate (CH4) and the sea's future?

Question

Methane hydrate melts if it gets too warm, and it floats in water. It makes the tension go and so nothing will float.

If the methane hydrate deposits around the oceans start to warm and melt due to global warming, will air be the only way to travel? I hate the thought of polluting using planes, but maybe there will have to be a NON polluting air travel? MAYBE? What do you think?

Answer 1

Methane hydrate is just methane trapped within frozen water.

the problem from Methane hydrate is not that it floats but that when it melts it releases large amounts of methane. a potent greenhouse gas so if the earth warms enough to melt this ice large amounts of methane will be released and further warming will result.

Answer 2

If the Clathrates start to melt air travel will be the least of your worries.  Many geologists and paleontologists think these crystals played a key role in the Permian extinction (the biggest of all extinctions) and possibly all of them.  The idea is that greenhouse effect from gases vented by volcanoes or a large meteor strike would warm the earth, but not enough to cause the extinctions.  However, they could easily warm things up enough to melt the methane crystals, triggering a second round of warming sufficient  to account for the extinctions.  A chain reaction in other words.  The cautionary aspect of this tale is that humans are accomplishing in decades changes that took nature centuries, both in increasing greenhouse gases, and the associated temperature rise.  It's false information if someone tries to tell you that surface currents and deep currents never mix, so this can't happen.  They do mix, and there is a well described cycle for it.  One concern these days is the huge amount of CO2 being taken up by the oceans within a single cycle.  No one knows what the effect will be as the cycle completes and a new one begins.

Answer 3

Methane hydrates aren't only in deep ocean areas.   Under most of the not-so-permafrost in Canada, Alaska and Russia are huge deposits of this ice.   If sea levels do rise a bit to flood these areas the warmer water would probably melt down through the permafrost and release large quantities of methane.   Since methane burns so much cleaner than oil or coal, we might as well start figuring out how to capture it from these sights now before it all ends up in the atmosphere.

Answer 4

Actually, the chemical formula for methane hydrate is (CH4)8(H2O)46.  Once formed its actually fairly stable and is unlikely to suddenly decompose.

Answer 5

I had to go away and read up on this one.

Methane hydrate releases are more common than one might realise. Most of this so-called "ice" is actually held in organic mud deposits on the ocean beds.

There are a couple of well known release points, which are a hazard to shipping. The "Witches Hole" in the Moray Firth is one. It has claimed several boats with unwary skippers over the years. Another is in the Black Sea and has claimed a couple of Oil Rigs.

Many of the mysterious shipping disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle are thought to be due to Methane Hydrate releases.

Whilst panic mongering Warmistas happily predict that Global Warming will release huge amounts of methane, due to this mechanism, they ignore an important issue!

Global warming will only affect the upper 30metres of the oceans! There are several distinct temperature layers in the deep oceans. These effectively isolate the deeper reaches from the vagaries of the atmosphere! The only physical effect, which ice cap melting will have is the constriction of the deep ocean return currents, which support surface currents, like the Gulf Stream. These will stop flowing, but the deep sea temperatures will remain stable.

The Methane Hydrate releases, which we know about, are actually caused by local geological disturbances, which effectively shakes the methane loose.

Answer 6

Melting point 182.5C

Not much to worry about in your lifetime.

edit 09.48

so I did - still nothing to worry about in your lifetime.  + or - we won't be around.

Answer 7

Well this methane exsist only under extreme pressure. That means it is found only in really deep regions of the oceans.Such deep layers of water never see the sun light and simply by phisical laws this water will stay cold no matter how warm it is on the surface.Those waters can never be mixed- it is not like with the polymixis of the lake.

So sleep tight and think of more urgent probllems!