While this appears to be an alarming "discovery," I'm not sure what the news is considering Skarke and Ruppel were both included on a paper submitted in 2012 (and available in Spring of 2013) titled: "Evidence for extensive methane venting on the southeastern U.S. Atlantic margin[1]." Perhaps it's simply that the depth and length of time has now been revealed? I couldn't find the paper that the articles are mentioning.
In any case, there's another paper (available for free currently) that goes into more detail on what sort of implications the methane can have on different sorts of oceanic conditions: "Seafloor oxygen consumption fuelled by methane from cold seeps[2]."
We've known for decades that there are enormous quantities of methane clathrates at the bottom of the northern oceans. That some of it vents should not surprise anyone.
Do we know that this isn't a recent phenomenon?
I suspect that it might be new, along with methane potholes showing up in Siberia.
I think we know that there have been bouts of global warming that was preceded by release of methane into the atmosphere, followed by 6 to 9 degrees of warming over a long period of time. It fucked with the ecosystem but mammals managed to survive at least two of them.
This appears to be a man-made beginning to one of these warming periods, though it's happening at a much faster rate than ever by orders of magnitude.
So, I think what's scary is that this looks like a massive global extinction event that hasn't happened in 25 ~ 50 million years, and it's starting now, and it's happening faster than it ever has. I dunno, doesn't that scare you a little?
It looks like if we're not unlucky we'll manage to survive (mammals have done it before). Probably scariest is the political turmoil that will result. That's the part that will affect us in our lifetime.
well the article indicates that many of the observed locations date to over a thousand years old. The take away questions for me, since I am not buying the paper are.
What are the changes in sea temperature in the shallow areas the seeps were found? Do we have good measurements across a great many years? How much of a temperature increase is needed to start seepage and how much is needed to stop it once started?
It is likely we simply stumbled on something that has been but simply not observed. Not all of the surface is under constant observation and obviously far less of the ocean is
In any case, there's another paper (available for free currently) that goes into more detail on what sort of implications the methane can have on different sorts of oceanic conditions: "Seafloor oxygen consumption fuelled by methane from cold seeps[2]."
[1] - http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/41/7/807
[2] - http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v6/n9/full/ngeo1926.html