 | Abqaiq and Eat It Too (or, More Geological Analysis of Potential Saudi Depletion) | The Oil Drum | DrumBeat: May 16, 2008 |  |
161 comments on Australia: What to do, what to do about our energy situation?
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I am concerned about that too. However I think there is a possibility (not a probability) that we may face a rapid collapse of the Greenland ice sheet in few years causing sea levels to start rising by a significant amount.
I have no idea what the global response will be as low lying areas, including in cities such as New York and London, as well as significant areas in the non Western countries might induce a panic cut back on coal use, leading to impossible economic conditions.
Dealing with PO in these circumstances will be impossible.
Interesting Saildog, to find someone else that thinks it's a possibility that Greenland could have a partial collapse and flood low lying coastal regions. If that does happen it would be the best case scenario as far as providing a potential way to stop global warming. If enough fresh water were to be released in a partial collapse, it would slow or stop the thermohaline conveyor, and the weather would shift into a short or long term ice age. Since the oceans hold a thousand times more thermal energy than the atmosphere, water temperature rules the weather (as evidenced by La Nina this past winter). The result would be a growing ice sheet in the north and super hot hurricane and tornadic driven weather at the equator. The areas of the Earth conducive to human civilization would diminish, however the planet would be saved from the methane hydrates along the continental shelves releasing into the atmosphere, which are 25 times more potent than CO2 in their green house effect. If all that methane did release without the induction of an ice age, then the Earth would become such a hot environment, human existence would be a small fraction of today's population.