Green News: Big Bubbles off the NW Coast: Methane Bubbles?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/18/1434519/-Spotlight-on-green-news-views-400-submerged-U-S-cities-biggest-elephant-killed-zero-waste?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos%29

Bubble Plumes Off Washington, Oregon Suggest Warmer Ocean May Be Releasing Frozen Methane written by pollwatcher: "Everyone who has been following the potentially devastating impacts of Global Warming has been very concerned about the release of other gases that can have a far greater temporary impact on the climate than CO2. Methane is one of those greenhouse gases that can be 25 times worse for the climate than CO2. A report from the American Geophysical Union is saying a new study to be published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems has found indications that frozen methane 'ice' may be melting off the western coast of the U.S. From the report: [...] The study shows that of 168 bubble plumes observed within the past decade, a disproportionate number were seen at a critical depth for the stability of methane hydrates. [...] 'We see an unusually high number of bubble plumes at the depth where methane hydrate would decompose if seawater has warmed,' said lead author H. Paul Johnson, a University of Washington professor of oceanography. 'So it is not likely to be just emitted from the sediments; this appears to be coming from the decomposition of methane that has been frozen for thousands of years.'"