BP and "An Inconvenient Truth"

[Pale Blue Dot]

One of the points I remember from Al Gore's movie is the conjecture that global warming would cause Alaska's permafrost to melt, destabilizing the oil pipelines running through that state.

Has BP explained what, exactly, caused the degradation of the pipelines?

[mom cat]

1. Very good point. The whole pipeline might become useless.

[Uncle Joe]

2. According to the link on this thread, it's corrosion, but one never knows

for sure now a days about anything.

:shrug:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2441040&mesg_id=2441040

[madame defarge]

3. Melting permafrost in China is causing...

structural cracks along the tracks of the new high-altitude train to Tibet. So it's quite plausible that the pipeline could crack under such melting. I also just read that Rep. Dingell & others in Congress are calling for an investigation of BP & the pipelines. See here for discussion...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2442106

[eviltwin2525]

4. One of the huge engineering challenges

in building the pipeline was insulating the permafrost from the pipe, so it wouldn't melt and swallow the damn thing. So if now the whole Arctic thaws....goodbye pipeline! Wow, this really is the beginning of the end, isn't it? Permafrost dies (vast reservoir of CO2 released), sea-ice melts wiping out polar bears and lowering planetary albedo, frozen methane on seafloor (what do they call that? di-methyl-hydride, or something like that?) is ALL released (MAJOR greenhouse boost), oops, there goes Greenland ice (even lower albedo due to a small continent's-worth of freshly exposed rock), now Antarctic ice (even lower albedo). (Albedo is the ratio of incoming radiation, i.e., sunshine, vs. outgoing thermal, which tells you how much energy is STAYING in a body; ice reflects MUCH better than rock, or even liquid water.)
I'm scared.

[Sirveri]

6. deserts are white.

so as the earth gets hot and turns to sand, that sand should reflect back more solar radiation.

[Uncle Joe]

5. Kicked for the night people

:kick: