.Dr.
Malcolm Light interview on climate change: 'Extreme national
emergency'
Dorsi Diaz
10 September, 2014
In
this third part of a series on climate
change and
the methane crisis,
Dorsi Diaz interviews Dr. Malcolm Light, an earth systems scientist
who has been zeroing in on the current methane situation. In what he
is calling an 'extreme national emergency,' Dr. Malcolm Light sheds
some light on what his research has led him to in this rare
interview. Answering some of the pressing questions about
accelerating climate change and the threat that methane plays, Light
expounds on his thoughts about mantle methane, geo-engineering and
the governments reluctance to move fast enough to address this
growing threat. Light also touches on the Permian–Triassic
extinction event -also known as- 'the great dying,' where methane is
thought to have played a significant role in the die-off of most of
the worlds species.
Q: Malcolm,
I have been following your work for the last couple of years with
great concern. I know that many others have also been reading your
work and are also concerned. Could you tell us a little bit about
your background and what led you to the point you are now at?
A: My
parents were both meteorologists. I have a Bachelor of Science
(Honors) in geology (and oceanography) from the University of Cape
Town and a PhD in geology from the University of London where I began
detailed Arctic research at the Centre for Polar Observation and
Monitoring (CPOM) in 2002. Prof. Duncan Wingham, who was in charge of
CPOM at the time, invented the Cryosat satellite.
I have worked on
international oil and gas exploration for 20 years, 10 years on metal
and diamond exploration and 12 years on Arctic climate research. It
was at CPOM that I saw the huge threat that the Gulf Stream heat
posed in destabilizing the Arctic methane hydrates and first warned
about the consequences (Poster Duncan 2F). All my subsequent papers
have appeared in Sam Carana'sarctic-news.blogspot.com
Light
M.P.R. and Solana C., 2002a. Arctic methane hydrates - Mapping a
potential greenhouse gas hazard. Abstract and Poster, EGS, nice. (see
poster in slideshow)
Light,
M.P.R. and Solana, C. , 2002b- Arctic Methane Hydrates: A Potential
Greenhouse Gas
Hazard.
Q: Malcolm,
I think most of us that have been following climate change realize
now that methane is the game changer when we talk about a possible
extinction level event. I recently became aware of another less
talked about form of methane which you have been talking about –
mantle methane. Can you tell us a little bit more about this methane
and is the release of mantle methane an even bigger threat to us,
than say, the melting permafrost?
A: Methane
formed by organisms in the water becomes trapped in the fabric of
water ice crystals when it freezes and is stable below about 300
meters depth in the Arctic Ocean. There are such massive methane
reserves below the Arctic Ocean floor (more than 5000 billion tons of
methane carbon) that they represent around 100 times the amount that
is required to cause a Permian style major extinction event, should
about one
percent of the sub-sea Arctic methane be
released into the atmosphere. There are also giant reservoirs of
mantle methane, originally sealed in by shallow methane hydrate plugs
in fractures cutting the Arctic seafloor. Unfortunately for us,
global warming has heated up the oceanic currents fed by the Gulf
Stream flowing into the Arctic, causing massive destabilization of
the sub-sea methane hydrates and fault seals and releasing increasing
volumes of subsea methane hydrate and mantle methane directly into
the atmosphere. The major threat to us is heat from the Gulf Stream
breaking the methane hydrate seals on the fracture systems and
releasing both the sub-sea methane hydrate and mantle methane
directly into the atmosphere. I would say that the reserves of mantle
methane are probably inexhaustible.
Therefore the best thing we can do is cool down the Gulf Stream
immediately by cutting back on US and Canadian emissions by 80% to 90
% and thus replace the pressure release valves back on the Earth's
methane pressure cooker, before it is too late to stop it venting
itself into the atmosphere and frying us all.
Q: Malcolm,
besides the need to drastically cut our emissions now, what can be
done about the destabilizing methane on the seafloors? Do you feel
geo-engineering is our only option right now to at least try to slow
down this runaway train we are on?
A: Scientists
at Georgia Tech University have found that at very low temperatures
in the ocean, two symbiotic methane eating organisms group together,
consume methane and excrete carbon dioxide which then reacts with
minerals in the water to form carbonate mounds. These organisms need
a specific enzyme and tungsten for this process to operate. A method
must be immediately developed for growing these methane consuming
organisms in great quantities and delivering them with their vital
tungsten operating enzyme to the Arctic Ocean where they can devour
all the methane rising in the water column before it enters the
atmosphere.
In
the modified version of the Lucy Project, hydroxyls can be generated
by a polarized 13.56 MHZ beam intersecting the sea surface over the
region where a massive methane torch (plume) is entering the
atmosphere so that the additional hydroxyl produced will react with
the rising methane, breaking a large part of it down. In the Arctic
Ocean, the polarized 13.56 MHZ radio waves will decompose atmospheric
humidity, mist, fog, ocean spray and the surface of the waves
themselves into nascent hydrogen and hydroxyl.
An
improved Lucy system could use Nd:glass heating lasers containing
hexagonal neodymium which is stable below 863oC. Neodymium glass
lasers have extreme output parameters with the most extreme powers
and power densities. Prof. Velard from the University of Madrid
states that at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, Nd:glass heating
lasers are used for nuclear fusion experiments so they will easily
have sufficient power to decompose methane.
The
Angels (Arctic Natural Gas Extraction, Liquefaction, Sale - Storage)
project is a solution to the extreme Arctic methane build - up that
must be done in conjunction with a complete cut back in carbon
dioxide emissions from North America, if we have any hope of stopping
this now, almost out of control, exponentially escalating build - up
of methane in the atmosphere and its extreme enhancement of global
warming.
The
Angels project will require the drilling of inclined boreholes into
the sub-sea Arctic permafrost/methane hydrates to drain the
over-pressured methane from beneath them and thus depressurize the
reservoirs. This will stop many of the Arctic sea surface methane
eruptions by drawing ocean water down the eruption zones and will
allow a controlled destabilization of the undersea methane hydrates
producing a natural gas source for many hundreds of years. This gas
can be liquefied in surface plants, put into LNG tankers and sold as
a feed-stock for hydrogen plants or permanently stored in propane -
ethane hydrates with carbon dioxide at ambient temperatures in deep
ocean basins.
Q: What
do you think about the use of Hydroxyls as a geo-engineering method
to cool the earth?
A: According
to Heicklen (1967), methane produced at the Earth's surface diffuses
upward in the atmosphere and is broken down by photo dissociation
(sunlight) and chemical attack by nascent oxygen and hydroxyl.
Hydroxyls are one of the main purifiers of the atmosphere and there
is now a giant equatorial hole in the Pacific in the hydroxyl
concentration which allows the shallower Arctic methane global
warming veil between 9 and 11 km in height to rise up into the
stratosphere where it will cause increased heating. In the Arctic
Ocean, polarized 13.56 MHZ radio waves can decompose atmospheric
humidity, mist, fog, ocean spray and the surface of the waves
themselves into nascent hydrogen and hydroxyl. In the Lucy Project,
hydroxyls could be generated by a polarized 13.56 MHZ beam
intersecting the sea surface over the region where a massive methane
torch (plume) is entering the atmosphere so that the additional
hydroxyl produced will react with the rising methane, breaking a
large part of it down.
Q: I
have noticed your posts and articles have become much more dire, and
I sense a great amount of urgency in your messages. Do you think
urgency can create action, especially among global governments? Or
are we doomed to red tape and bureaucracy even though we are in the
midst of the greatest emergency that humanity will ever face?
A:
The increasing urgency of my message about the methane threat is
caused by the absolute idiotic behavior of the US and Canadian
governments in allowing a massive increase in fossil fuel extraction
that has produced a peak in worldwide atmospheric carbon dioxide at
the moment when they should be cutting their emissions by large
amounts to cool down the Gulf Stream. The US and Canada must cut
their global emissions of carbon dioxide by 80 % to 90% in the next
10 to 15 years, otherwise they will be become an instrument of mass
destruction of the Earth and its entire human population. Recovery of
the United States economy from the financial crisis has been very
stupidly based by the present administration on an extremely
hazardous "all of the above" energy policy that has allowed
continent wide gas fracking, coal and oil sand mining and the return
of widespread oil drilling to the Gulf Coast. This large amount of
fossil fuel has to be transported and sold which has caused extensive
spills, explosions and confrontations with US citizens over fracking
and the Keystone XL pipeline. Gas fracking is in the process of
destroying the entire aquifer systems of the United States and
causing widespread earthquakes. The oil spills are doing the same to
the surface river run off. The giant pollution cloud over Canada and
the US has sped up the Gulf Stream by three times since the 1940's.
The Gulf Stream carries huge quantities of heat into the Arctic Ocean
where it is destabilizing sub-sea methane hydrates releasing vast
volumes of methane into the Arctic atmosphere causing catastrophic
weather systems.
The
United States and Canada must immediately cease all their fossil fuel
extraction and go entirely onto renewable energy in the next 10 to 15
years otherwise they will be guilty of planetary ecocide - genocide
by the 2050's. There must also be a world-wide effort to capture
methane in the sub-sea Arctic Ocean methane hydrates in order to
depressurize it and thus stop the methane eruptions and eradicate the
quantities accumulating in the atmosphere.
Q: Do
you have hope Malcolm that the human species can change its ways fast
enough to do something about this or have we passed a point of no
return? Besides sharing, what else do you recommend we do at this
point?
A: Only
a total change in the United States administration from the present,
non - democratic, fossil - fuel corporation - bank controlled
oligarchic system to an environmentally friendly government, bent on
massive cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and complete replacement of
all energy systems by renewable energy might cool the Gulf Stream
down sufficiently to save us. The problem is the absolute greed for
profit in the fossil fuel industry and capitalist system and complete
addiction to oil by the consumers, combined with the complete
lethargy of the general public to react to anything that does not
effect them personally. I
think people will only react when they are staring death in the face
and then it will be too late.
We
have only a short time left. Be excellent to each other as we enter
this time of worldwide strife, heat and unbelievably ferocious
storms. You may make a difference to someone and it will not be
forgotten, if there is the other side.
Q: Malcolm,
if you could choose just one website or article that could be shared
that could help educate people and make a difference, what would it
be?
A: The
Arctic Atmospheric 'Methane Global Warming Veil'. Its Origin in the
Arctic Subsea and Mantle and the Timing of the Global Terminal
Extinction Events by 2040 to 2050 - A Review. By Malcolm P.R. Light,
Harold Hensel and Sam Carana June 8th,
2014http://arctic-news.blogspot.com.es/2014/06/arctic-atmospheric-methane-global-warming-veil.html
To
read one of Dr. Lights more recent abstracts about methane and the
role it is playing in runaway climate change you can see it here: The
Non-Disclosed Extreme Arctic Methane Threat
*******
This
is the third in a series of interviews with scientists and experts
about climate change and the methane crisis. The first interview was
with Harold Hensel, member of the Arctic Emergency Methane
Group: Climate
change and the methane crisis: Q & A with Harold Hensel
The
second interview was with Dr. Guy McPherson: Climate
change and the methane crisis: An interview with Dr. Guy McPherson
Here is Malcolm Light's article (via Facebook).
Average global methane emissions reached 1800 ppb in mid 2013
EXTREME
NATIONAL EMERGENCY
By
Malcolm Peter Light – Earth Scientist
The
United States administration is now a fossil fuel corporation –
bank oligarchy. It is a totally failed democracy. Consequently all
decisions made by the present US government are unconstitutional and
invalid, further confirmed by the way people are transferred from the
US congress to the banks. Consequently the coming Senate election
will be a farce. The coming Senate election and all further elections
need to be delayed until the US administration changes the rules back
and can prove that the United States is once again democratic and
represents the will of the people. Please see these sites:-
http://www.washingtontimes.com/…/americas-oligarchy-not-de…/
President
Obama must declare a state of Extreme National Emergency and cease
orchestrating a war with Russia. He must recall his entire army and
navy personnel to the United States to begin a massive conversion of
the US energy system to solar and wind power. This conversion must
result in all 600 coal power stations and nuclear stations being
completely shut down in the next 5 to 10 years. All surface
transport, both private and public must be entirely electrified and
air transport converted to methane or hydrogen fuel. If this is not
done, humanity will be facing total extinction in an Arctic methane
firestorm between 2040 and 2050.
The
US and Canada must cut their global emissions of carbon dioxide by
90% in the next 10 to 15 years, otherwise they will be become an
instrument of mass destruction of the Earth and its entire human
population. Recovery of the United States economy from the financial
crisis has been very unsoundly based by the present Administration on
an extremely hazardous "all of the above" energy policy
that has allowed continent wide gas fracking, coal and oil sand oil
mining and the return of widespread drilling to the Gulf. Coast. This
large amount of fossil fuel has to be transported and sold which has
caused extensive spills, explosions and confrontations with US
citizens over fracking and the Keystone XL pipeline. Gas fracking is
in the process of destroying the entire aquifer systems of the United
States and causing widespread earthquakes. The oil spills are doing
the same to the surface river run off.
We
are now facing a devastating final show down with Mother Nature,
which is being massively accelerated by the filthy extraction of
fossil fuels by US and Canada by gas fracking, coal and tar sand
mining and continent wide bitumen transport. The United States and
other developed nations made a fatal mistake by refusing to sign the
original Kyoto protocols. The United States and Canada must now cease
all their fossil fuel extraction and go entirely onto renewable
energy in the next 10 to 15 years otherwise they will be guilty of
planetary ecocide - genocide by the 2050's.
The
volume transport of the Gulf Stream has increased by three times
since the 1940's due to the rising atmospheric pressure difference
set up between the polluted, greenhouse gas rich air above North
America and the marine Atlantic Air. Recent work shows the giant
volume of heat that now has accumulated in the North Atlantic.
The
increasingly heated Gulf Stream with its associated high winds and
energy rich weather systems then flows NE to Europe where it recently
pummeled Great Britain with catastrophic storms. Other branches of
the Gulf Stream then enter the Arctic and disassociate the subsea
Arctic methane hydrate seals on subsea and deep high - pressure
mantle methane reservoirs below the Eurasian Basin- Laptev Sea
transition. This is releasing increasing amounts of methane into the
atmosphere producing anomalous temperatures, greater than 20 degree C
above average. Over very short time periods of a few days to a few
months the atmospheric methane has a global warming potential from
1000 to 100 times that of carbon dioxide.
There
are such massive reserves of methane in the subsea Arctic methane
hydrates, that if only a few percent of them are disassociated, they
will lead to a jump in the average temperature of the Earths
atmosphere by 10 degrees C and produce a "Permian" style
major extinction event which will kill us all. The whole northern
hemisphere is now covered by a thickening atmospheric methane global
warming veil that is spreading southwards at about 1 km a day and it
already totally envelopes the United States. A giant hole in the
equatorial ozone layer has also been discovered in the west Pacific
which acts like an elevator transferring methane from lower altitudes
to the stratosphere where it already forms a dense equatorial global
warming stratospheric band that is spreading into the Polar regions.
During
the last winter, the high Arctic winter temperatures and pressures
have displaced the normal freezing Arctic Air south into Canada and
the United States producing never before seen, freezing winter storms
and massive power failures. When the Arctic ice cap finally melts
towards the end of next year, the Arctic sea will be aggressively
heated by the sun and the Gulf Stream. The cold Arctic air will then
be confined to the Greenland Ice cap and the hot globally warmed
Arctic air with its methane will flow south to the United States to
further heat up the Gulf Stream, setting up an anticlockwise
circulation around Greenland. Under these circumstances Great Britain
and Europe must expect even more catastrophic storm systems,
hurricane force winds and massive flooding after the end of next year
due to a further acceleration in the energy transport of the Gulf
Stream. If this process continues unchecked the mean temperature of
the atmosphere will rise a further 8 degrees centigrade and we will
be facing global deglaciation, a more than 200 feet rise in sea level
rise and a major terminal extinction event by the 2050's
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