[Spartan27]

Originally Posted by chrispenycate

I believe the methane reserves are beneath icecaps or permafrost layers; methane's not very soluble) And a warm winter could precipitate a positive feedback effect (at least no-one has a mathematical model which proves that it couldn't) If methane is released at an acceptbly low rate (ie, those reserves released over decades) it will disappear; methane only exists in our oxygen-rich atmosphere because it's continuously replenished by biological processes, it "burns" relatively fast (yes, giving carbon dioxide, but that's another side of the question) If jt were released fast, from the Siberian tundra because of one warm winter following several years of permafrost reduction, it could trigger a feedback effect (over a few years, maximum) There again, it might not - climate models just aren't good enough, and information about reserves of methane not accurate enough, for anything better than "interpolation of data" (that's gobbledegook for "a guess").
While looking at rising sea levels, take a glance at a relief map of Bangladesh. How many bengali refugees?

Crispy...Methane has 2 to 3 times the GHG effect than CO2 does. The largest methane concentrations are located beneath our oceans. And there is evidence that fissures are releasing methane into the oceans and into the atmosphere at greater rates than the past 500 years or so. From studies which now are starting to be discussed, Methane and not CO2 is the leading reason for the green house effect. Scary stuff.....