Needlenose

News stories about new, unexpected inputs of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere as a result of global warming that will lead to more global warming are sadly coming more frequently. In this case, science has had another ‘golly gee’ moment over a study that indicates that there are massive methane deposits trapped beneath the (rapidly melting) polar ice sheets that could be rapidly released into the atmosphere and trigger catastrophic climate change. It seems to have done that earlier in Earth’s history:

An abrupt release of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from ice sheets that extended to Earth’s low latitudes some 635 million years ago caused a dramatic shift in climate, scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) report in this week’s issue of the journal Nature.

The ocean is sucking up massive amounts of carbon dioxide. Great news, right? Not really, the carbon dioxide is transformed into carbonic acid, turning the ocean corrosive:

In surveys from Vancouver Island in Canada to the tip of Baja California in Mexico, scientists reported finding the first evidence of acidic sea water in large quantities along the continental shelf, the shallow zone where most marine creatures live.

In some areas the water was corrosive enough to dissolve the shells of clams, coral and tiny creatures that are crucial to the food chain.

And sadly, as usual, the science world utters yet another “golly gee” as “…what’s happening in the natural world seems to be happening much faster than what our climate models predict.”

We’re fucked.