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Siberian Permafrost Melting

TeknoHog writes "New Scientist Reports on a remarkable runaway process of global warming that has been going on in Siberia for the past few years. 'Western Siberia has warmed faster than almost anywhere else on the planet, with an increase in average temperatures of some 3C in the last 40 years.' As a result, a million square kilometers (the area of France and Germany) of frozen peat bog have been found to be melting, according to Russian and international scientists. This releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas, which contributes to further global warming."

5 of 1,023 comments (clear)

  1. Word From the Whitehouse by ackthpt · · Score: 3, Funny
    Not real science! Not like important sciencetists in my administration tell me!

    La-la-la-la-la! MMMMM!!! I can't hear your!!! La-la-la-la-la!!

    The war is going well, we plan to fix Social Security if the stubborn opponents would just see reason! I have political capital to spend and I'm going to spend it!

    La-la-la-la-la! MMMMM!!! Hoo-Hah! Yellow rose of Texas .. HMMM MMM MMM MMM MMM MMMMMMM!!! La-la-la! (Dick see if we can round up some more troops and invade Siberberia, lookin' for weapons, setting up democracy sorta thing) La-la-la-la!!!

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    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  2. Re:Third Post by PsychicX · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, as a representative of Standard Oil Co....ehm...I mean, Exxon, Mobil, and other oil companies, I would like to assure all of the slashdot readers that there is no such things as global warming. These are lies spread by liberal commie scientists with an agenda. We, on the other hand, are completely impartial and unbiased.

  3. Contrast the responses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    American Left scientist: This is bald proof that Global Warming is occuring and causing climatic changes in our lifetime. The rise in greenhouse gasses since the advent of the Industrial Revolution matches the rise in global temperatures, giving further proof that humans are a key component in the climatic puzzle. By drastically reducing our fossil fuel emissions and other man-made greenhouse gasses, it should be possible to manage the expected warming trend. Acting now is absolutely necessary to keeping pristine environments like the Siberian taiga in their pristine state.

    American Right scientist: This is interesting data. However a few degrees change over a short span of only 40 years is not indicative of any long-term trend towards either a cooling cycle or a heating cycle. Nevertheless, as the historical temperature has fluctuated greatly in the past and it seems that we are actually coming out of a trough, it seems reasonable to assume that a warming trend would be on the horizon. At the least, it should indicate that we need more study of the phenomenon.

    European scientists: Ziss is clearly ze work of ze fat, stinking Americans and zer fat, stinking wives and cars.

    Siberian citizens: Ya, I am sinkink dat I like za balmy weather.

  4. Re:yeah but it'll stink won't it? by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 3, Funny

    Methane doesn't have a smell, and it's not the primary component of farts. Profane Muthafucka has been working hard and long in his laboratory to answer the age-old question: what's in farts, why do they smell so bad, and why do I enjoy my own farts, but nobody else's?

    The answer is that it's mostly hydrogen, which doesn't smell. The odor comes from organic compounds such as indole, skatole, and mercaptans, and the inorganic gas hydrogen sulfide. All of these compounds taken into the nose together, oddly enough, smell like poop.

    The phenomenon of enjoyment of your own farts, but nobody else's farts is still something of a mystery to me. I am currently spending long hours in a closed box, alternately by myself and with a man eating Taco Bell burritos to find the answer. I am confident that this research might have some remote application to the war on terror, either for detecting bin Ladin, or for flushing him out. Literally.

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    Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
  5. Re:Third Post by bensafrickingenius · · Score: 4, Funny

    We NeoCons don't deny that the climate is changing; we deny that it's the fault of mankind. We maintain that climate change is a natural part of the planet's life cycle. The planet experienced dramatic global warming following the last ice age -- my car's not that old, is yours?

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    I am not left-handed, either!