The Methane Issue

[TerryM]

Thanks to everyone for the time and thought you've put into answering my question. I really thought that someone, somewhere would have worked this out and that I was just unable to find the results of their studies.

 

I didn't think that a 100 ppb difference in CH4 cover would make a large difference, but then I wouldn't consider a 100 ppb difference to constitute much of a plume either. When S&S were reporting kilometer wide outflows in the ESAS I assume that the CH4 readings in or close to the plume would be much, much higher than the diffused clouds that were eventually picked up at Barrow. The 100ppb was only thrown out as a metric to work from.

 

It's entirely possible that equating hot spots with high methane levels is either all in my imagination, or more likely a chicken egg scenario where the heat is causing the CH4 outgassing and there is no feedback. I'm going to continue to watch these areas during the next melt season though, especially now that A4R has been publishing the satellite methane maps regularly over at Neven's site.

 

I've posed my question on a few more boards & if anyone comes up with a solid figure I'll post it here.

 

Terry