Media Ignores Pertinent Geological Data to Promote Methane Time Bomb Hysteria

CCD Editor’s Note: The following article is an update to a previous CCD article that explores the association between increased methane (a greenhouse gas) emissions from methane hydrate formations located along known fault zones. James Kamis, a practicing geologist, delves into the so-called ticking methane time “bomb”, why it was hijacked by some climate scientists, and how it left many geologists puzzled as to how a naturally occurring phenomenon became another “dire signal” of climate change. 

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Methane gas bubbling up from the ocean’s seafloor off the coast of Washington and Oregon recently made national media headlines, and they were called extremely unusual and caused by man-made global warming. Scientists favoring the theory of man-made global warming contend that a CO2-heated atmosphere (via radiative forcing) has acted to warm a tiny region of the ocean that’s adjacent to Washington State and Oregon. This warmed ocean water then destabilizes methane hydrate formations on the seafloor, which begin emitting methane gas into the ocean (and then the atmosphere).

Figure 1.) The “Cleft” fault segment of the offshore Washington state Juan De Fuca Fault System.

As first reported in a recent CCD article, these alarmist media reports neglected to tell the public about the underlying geology of that area. That’s because previously mapped offshore fault zones (a complex deformation associated with the fractured surface of the fault) located in the Washington State and Oregon region are the likely culprits behind any increased methane bubbling, and not man-made global warming.

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