Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Geology, Palaeontology & Archaeology => Topic started by: chris on 16/04/2017 12:46:20
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Dennis Tavoda wrote to say:
Saw a bit on this in the news & posted to Fritz Coleman, on FB and after seeing more in the news before but nothing newer since is it plausible for enough methane to control rain a few or more months? 1 part on this, Wikipedia has that for 1 increment: 109k volume, from Oct 2016 to Feb, & a few more wks again in March 2017, leaks occurred and who's accounting for past years leaks?
Can Natural Gas, "accidentally leaking", in huge volume(s), in Porter Ranch, Pasadena hills, Aliso Cyn, & be causing even more water shortage, by directing rain clouds around or north? Is this another more money for some deal $$$$⏫⬆⏫⬆⏫ is it Chinatown, even bigger then ever,,,? Isn't this the very real world scenario of green house gas lofting up into the upper atmosphere, or is this just too much arm chair sci-fi from a geeky guy?
What doe everyone think?
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What is a "cubic ton"?
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Methane is a much stronger greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
But 109,000 tons (whether in a cube or any other shape) is a fairly small amount when diluted throughout the atmosphere.
In theory, methane is a lower-carbon fuel than coal (and in practice, it emits far fewer pollutants than coal or liquid hydrocarbons), but it was estimated that if as little as 3% of the methane escapes into the atmosphere, you have lost that advantage in reduced carbon.
It's rather tricky to corral something which is intangible, invisible, silent, tasteless and has no smell. I can see they will need to install infra-red cameras around methane production and storage facilities (only the US EPA seems about to be dismantled).
Some of California's multi-year climate swings are affected by the El Niņo/La Niņa cycles that affect the Pacific basin. Increasing sea-surface temperatures will affect the behavior of these swings.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Ni%C3%B1o%E2%80%93Southern_Oscillation#On_precipitation