Category: Methane

scientists have vastly underestimated

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This damagest the anti-frackers and anti-NG leaks groups.

“COLUMBUS, Ohio–A study of a Lake Erie wetland suggests that scientists have vastly underestimated the number of places methane-producing microbes can survive — and, as a result, today’s global climate models may be misjudging the amount of methane being released into the atmosphere.

In the journal Nature Communications, researchers at The Ohio State University and their colleagues describe the discovery of the first known methane-producing microbe that is active in an oxygen-rich environment.

Oxygen is supposed to be toxic to such microbes, called methanogens, but the newly named Candidatus Methanothrix paradoxum thrives in it.

In fact, 80 percent of the methane in the wetland under study came from oxygenated soils. The microbe’s habitat extends from the deepest parts of a wetland, which are devoid of oxygen, all the way to surface soils.

“We’ve always assumed that oxygen was toxic to all methanogens,” said Kelly Wrighton, project leader and professor of microbiology at Ohio State. “That assumption is so far entrenched in our thinking that global climate models simply don’t allow for methane production in the presence of oxygen. Our work shows that this way of thinking is outdated, and we may be grossly under-accounting for methane in our existing climate models.“

Of course, you can’t kill all of the bacteria, or the cow would die

Published on by sunshinehours14 Comments

There is always a catch with AGW “solutions”

Most attempts to tackle climate change focus on cutting greenhouse gases from cars and factories, but a small group of scientists think the key may lie in cutting emissions of a different kind.

Methane produced by livestock farming accounts for around 18 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions in the form of flatulence and belching, according to official estimates.

But researchers at Aarhus University in Denmark believe they may be able to reduce this by feeding cos oregano to alter the balance of bacteria in their digestive systems.

Methane produced from cows is 21 times more harmful to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. With the demand for milk and steak showing no sign of slowing, this problem can only get worse.

They think the essential oils from the herb, and its potent antimicrobial properties, will kill off the bacteria growing in cows stomachs that emit methane.

Dr Kai Grevsen, a senior researcher involved in the project, told NPR: ‘Oregano has essential oils with a mild antimicrobial called carvacrol, which can kill some of the bacteria in the cow’s rumen that produce methane.

‘Of course, you can’t kill all of the bacteria, or the cow would die.’

I wonder if you make spaghetti sauce with ground beef from cows who have eaten a lot of oregano  … can you skip adding oregano?

 

“Science” Funding Runs Out Because Fracking Wasn’t Evil

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They were researching fracking in Ohio and trying to find evidence of contaminated ground water.

They didn’t find any evidence.

The donors who were are all in favor of the research when it looked like they could demonize fracking stopped the funding.54ca55cf14c93_-_fracking-myths-01-0911-xln-73259275

However, Townsend-Small said in an email Monday to The Daily Signal, those decisions not to donate more might be because the study didn’t establish a relationship between hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and water contamination in Carroll County and other areas that include the Utica Shale deposit.

Townsend-Small also said the results “show that fracking does not always lead to groundwater contamination, but that continuous monitoring is needed to ensure contamination has not occurred.”

“The left likes to continually talk about settled science, but often it’s settled on a predetermined outcome,” Nick Loris, a research fellow at The Heritage Foundation who studies energy issues, told The Daily Signal. “Politicians use that predetermined outcome to justify policies that drive up the costs of affordable, reliable energy—even though those policies have little to no environmental benefit.”

The Daily Signal sought comment from the Deer Creek Foundation on why it decided to stop funding the fracking study in Ohio, but its executive director did not respond.

 

Methane Increase Caused By Agriculture and Not Fracking

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“A new study published today in the journal Science shows that fossil fuels are not the cause of increasing levels of methane in the atmosphere, but rather from agriculture. The study, conducted by National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and led by Hinrich Schaefer, concludes that since 2007, the most likely cause of increased atmospheric methane comes from agricultural practices, and not from fracking or fossil fuel production.”

According to Schaefer, the NIWA team found they could distinguish three types of methane emissions. “One is the burning of organic material, such as forest fires,” he said. “Another is fossil fuel production – the same processes that form natural oil and gas – and the third is formed by microbes which come from a variety of sources such as wetlands, rice paddies and livestock.”

The team found that the “source of the increase was methane produced by bacteria, of which the most likely sources are natural, such as wetlands or agricultural, for example from rice paddies or livestock.” They were surprised to discover that fossil fuel production was not the source of the increased methane and ruled it out. They call the post-2006 rise in methane primarily microorganisms (biogenic), were coming from outside the Arctic, and were “more consistent with agriculture than wetlands.”

http://www.examiner.com/article/study-increased-methane-levels-from-agriculture-not-fossil-fuel-production

Capture

 

 

So Much for the Methane Bomb

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It appears that there is no danger from methane in the arctic.

[N]ew research led by Princeton University researchers and published inThe ISME Journal in August suggests that, thanks to methane-hungry bacteria, the majority of Arctic soil might actually be able to absorb methane from the atmosphere rather than release it. Furthermore, that ability seems to become greater as temperatures rise.

http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2015/8/18/defusing-the-methane-bomb.html

 

Widespread Methane Leakage Oxidizing Into CO2

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Widespread methane leakage … from the sea floor on the northern US Atlantic margin.

“In an area between North Carolina and Massachusetts, they have now found at least 570 seeps at varying depths between 50m and 1,700m. […] The scientists say there could be about 30,000 of these hidden methane vents worldwide.

“The methane is dissolving into the ocean at depths of hundreds of metres and being oxidised to CO2,” said [Prof Adam Skarke from Mississippi State University, who led the study].

http://www.thegwpf.org/underwater-methane-discovery-shows-how-little-we-know-about-climate-system/

http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo2232.html

“Contemporary upper-slope seepage there may be triggered by ongoing warming of intermediate waters, but authigenic carbonates observed imply that emissions have continued for more than 1,000 years at some seeps.”

Translation: We’d love to blame global warming … but since it has been going on for 1,000 years … we can’t … unless you are dumb.

Leaking methane from coal-seam gas wells … about the same as four cows

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I love the idea of using a cow as a unit of measure.

“Leaking methane from coal-seam gas wells was not as high as feared, with each well emitting about the same as four cows, a CSIRO study has found.”

“A review of 43 CSG well sites in Queensland and NSW undertaken for the federal environment department found leaking from the Australian industry was much lower than in the US.

All of the methane leaks were from equipment and none due to the release of gas from outside of the well casing. The worst leaks were from well sites that were under pressure after being put out of production.”

http://www.thegwpf.org/new-study-leaking-methane-from-gas-wells-not-as-high-as-feared