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Scripps Institution of Oceanography (est. 1903) La Jolla, CA is the perfect location for meeting a world famous climate scientist. It is one of the most beautifully sculpted campuses on the face of the planet, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, an inviting scenario for serious surfers, but it also beckons top-notch scientists from around the world. Every view from the architecturally rich campus opens to an endless panorama of gorgeous blue ocean waters and luscious white surf for as far as the eye can see. However, that outward serenity belies a collapsing climate system that’s out of public view, one of the great illusions of all time. My first question: What is the single most serious threat to the planet? Without hesitation, Dr. Wadhams explained: A sudden and huge pulse of methane out of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf originating from its extraordinarily shallow waters <50 meters, or a similar burst out of the Laptev Sea, where 53% of the seawater rests on continental shelf averaging depth of <50 meters. Those extraordinarily shallow waters expose vulnerability to global warming over miles upon miles of methane concentration, hydrates as well as free gas, believed to be the world’s largest. The vulnerability relates to methane in sediments capped by layers of permafrost left over from the last Ice Age. The dilemma is: The permafrost cap is rapidly thawing as a result of anomalous retreat of summer sea ice. My follow up question: What will be the impact of a 50Gt pulse? Answer: “It would wipe out civilization within 5 years.” End of Interview… https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/08/10/peter-wadhams-professor-emeritus-ocean-physics/ http://www.scientistswarning.org/ _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
