The North West Passage

Is ice free, for the second year in a row. The melting ice is allowing the surrounding permafrost to release methane at a faster level than scientists previously thought. It will become a problem. Some say we may be at a tipping point. I believe we are past it.

The concern is that methane, unlike carbon dioxide can create a non-linear warming trend. That is very dangerous and could result in a 10-degree rise in temperature on a very short time scale, according to a Nature paper Wired Science covered in May. Others say that methane oxidizes in the atmosphere in seven to eight years and is not a long-lasting problem (CO2 lingers for almost a century). The bad news is that when methane oxidizes, it produces CO2.

When the land ice melts it is going to melt fast.