Feb
Another unjustified theory
From a comment by Graham:
Drew Shindell, at NASA’s Goddard Institute in New York, says:
“It’s [methane] gone up by 150 percent since the pre-industrial period. So that’s an enormous increase. CO2, by contrast, has gone up by something like 30 percent.
“For example, methane in the atmosphere also creates ground-level ozone. And ozone isn’t only bad for human health; it also contributes to global warming. Shindell recently totaled up all the effects of methane emissions and realized that the heating effect is more than 60 percent that of carbon dioxide’s.”
Maybe we’re worrying about the wrong gas. No, hold on
“Global warming is causing these wetlands to produce more methane. And the methane is causing more global warming.
“For reasons that are not well understood, methane gas stopped increasing in the atmosphere in the 1990s. But now it appears to be once again on the rise.”
But the climate’s been cooling. Maybe global cooling accelerates methane emission?
Once again an observation is turned into an unjustified theory without a speck of evidence. Other factors perhaps? Maybe, the collapse of Russian industry at that time.
Source: NPR
I thought that someone would stir the methane threat again. I have asked numerous experts a) where the supposed 21 times CO2 greenhouse effect in IPCC report 2 (now I believe 24 times in report 4) and quoted on the US EPA web site comes from. No one has come up with an explanation (although I can think of some explanation involving water vapor which is not a greenhouse gas according to the US EPA) and b) for a proof CH4 has any effect on atmospheric temperature.
If one looks at the absorption spectra which is very much narrower than CO2 and the quantity present the effect of methane is for all calculation purposes zero. Another point forgotten is that measurements show CH4 is lower over the ocean than over the land because it is slightly soluble and is taken up by organisms.
“Global warming is causing these wetlands to produce more methane” Phil Jones to BBC last week “no statistically significant warming since 1995″ Really now, this stupidity has got to stop.
Ever heard of “Grasping at Straws”,well dry grass.
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