"Climate models can’t explain 2023’s huge heat anomaly — we could be in uncharted territory
Taking into account all known factors, the planet warmed 0.2 °C more last year than climate scientists expected. More and better data are urgently needed."
Good piece in Nature this week by Gavin Schmidt covers the extremely anomalous temperatures in 2023, well before El Nino got started as well as the loss of #Antarctic #SeaIce and aerosols...
Melting methyl clathrates from deep sea deposits & melting permafrost threaten to accelerate global warming.
Fire ice IS something to be very worried about.
https://www.wired.com/story/dont-worry-its-just-fire-ice/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane_clathrate
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/latest/2023/12/fireice/
Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than CO2.
We already have massive forest fires every summer.
What happens when the arctic ocean or Russian tundra catches fire?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis
https://phys.org/news/2023-12-fire-ice-climate-methane-deep-ocean.html
@Npars01 @Ruth_Mottram Yes, methane clathrates have been feared for many years. It's probably best not to think about it.
Climate scientists talk about tipping points because there are positive feedback mechanisms that we will trigger if we go beyond certain temperature points. Exactly where those points are is unknown because the problem is too complex for us to analyze completely today. But we know they're there. Clathrates is one of them.
What happens when clathrates at the bottom of the sea decompose? Will we reach that point?
As the polar ice caps melt, it's desalinating the oceans and disrupting cold ocean currents like the Humboldt along the West coast of the Americas.
As cold antarctic & arctic currents start to fail, the lack of circulation will warm the oceans more rapidly.
Melting methane is already happening.
Ruth Mottram
Nicole Parsons
Phil Landmeier