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This is an illustration that CO2 may not be the ONLY player in abrupt heating on the planet and the rush to mass extinction.
Noril'sk, the most polluted city on the planet, large emissions of sulphur dioxide and the Permian mass extinction
I am most grateful to Dave (Nostrodoomus) and Margo who have done stellar work on picking up and researching something that has seemingly not been picked up by anyone else
Here is the video made yesterday by Dave that goes into this. It is also discussed by Margo in her May 4 video which I have posted at the bottom of the article.
What
they picked up was very, very large emissions of sulphur dioxide in
Western Siberia.
Sulphur
dioxide is usually associated with earthquakes and volcanoes and is
therefore usually associated with areas (such as currently, Mexico)
where there is such activity.
It
is highly irregular to have such levels of sulphur dioxide where
there is no such activity.
According
to my research sulphur dioxide (SO2) is an INDIRECT greenhouse gas
"because it contributes to aerosol formation which can either
warm (through absorption of solar radiation on dark particles) or
cool (from forming cloud droplets and reflecting radiation) the
atmosphere."
High SO2 emissions last week
The following demonstrates the high levels of emissions.
500 hPa (5,500 meters altitude)
Friday, 3 May - 7 May , 2019 Sulphur dioxide - total column
These emission levels are right at the top of the scale
Total column
Surface
Friday, 3 - 7 May, 2019 Sulphur dioxide - total column
Noril'sk, the most polluted city in the world
Davie
and Margo managed to narrow down the source of the SO2 to the area
shown in the map. You can see Novaya Zemlya and the Yamal
Peninsula, which we are familiar with to the west.
What
is here is the city of Noril'sk, a mining center since the 1920's and
site of one of Stalin's concentration camp centers.
The
following confirms that sulphur dioxide emissions are associated with
the mining of
nickel in Noril'sk.
This photo (from Google Earth) shows the city of Norilsk and its environs
And some very polluted ponds with a proliferation of thermokarst lakes, formed by melting permafrost
Zooming in....
Here is some articles which discusses the city:
The
city’s origins lie in the end of 1920, when it was decided to build
a metallurgic complex for extraction of the rich resources of the
region. The city was built by Soviet Gulag prisoners and became the
the center of a Gulag prisoner camp in 1935 which reached its highest
peak of (mostly political) prisoners in 1951, having as many as
75.000 estimated prisoners. Later in the 1950s these same prisoners
were abused in the plan of Joseph Stalin to connect the city to the
South-East of the Soviet-Union and ultimately to Moscow itself with a
railroad. The project was never finished, as the arctic climate
proved to be a large burden, but at the cost of thousands of
prisoners. For this reason the city is only accessible through air
or the infamous Russian road system.
Norilsk
is currently a so called ‘closed city’ since 2001, as it is for
strategic reasons closed to foreigners. It is believed that these
reasons are the huge mineral reserves and mining operations and the
IBM-missile depots which are situated in the vicinity of the city.
The closed city is a follow up of the ‘secret city’ concept which
existed during Soviet times. These were cities which were not on any
map, roadsign or listed as a destination for public transport. These
cities were mainly cities which were regarded ‘Atomgrads’, cities
with nuclear research activities or weapon depots. Currently access
to these former closed cities is only possible with an invitation and
a long application procedure.
Here is a documentary made by a team that managed to get into the area.
The Siberian Traps and the Permian extinction
(Many thanks to Rosemary Hill)
The Siberian Traps that geographically coincide with the area we are discussing have been associated with "the Great Dying" 252 million years ago.
| Figure Caption: Western Siberia showing the location of the main outcrops of the Siberian Traps on the Siberian craton The approximate extent of the craton is indicated in blue. Extensive subcrops of basalt occur beneath the West Siberian Basin, but are not shown on this map. | |
According to one theory the extinction was associated with the release of sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon dioxide (CO2) and presumably methane (CH4)
About
252 million years ago, the world came very close to ending when the
vast majority of species on the planet winked out of existence in an
event known euphemistically as "The Great Dying." Somehow,
very violently, the period known to scientists as the Permian ended
and the Triassic began, ushered in by a bang.
https://www.le.ac.uk/gl/ads/SiberianTraps/PDF%20Files/The%20Siberian%20Traps%20and%20the%20End-Permian%20mass.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1trqcU4zIBWB6MPLHnwb7kyqt3vXQfOAEB1QACwwFK5MtvPp_faZBppZk
Whilst
sulphur dioxide emissions are definitely associated with pollution
from the mining of nickel these emissions that Dave and Margo have
observed are far too extensive for this to be more than a partial
explanation.
It
is simply much too large.
Also
of interest, the emissions are intermittent just as methane emissions
are.
One
very reasonable hypothesis is that there have been geological changes
which is leading to magma coming to the surface much as it did in the
Permian extinction.
Clearly,
this is something that has to be watched.
Here
is Margo's report on this:
Excellent presentation, Robin! Thank you!
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