[h/t FishOutOfWater]
Research continues to investigate the behavior of components of the climate system in the real world as well as the virtual. With more and better data from the real world, the virtual climate system becomes more accurate.
Real-world Arctic methane plumes rising from the Arctic seafloor have been confirmed. These are worrisome because of their large capacity to further force climate change. Methane is 20 times as effective as carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the climate system. Up until recently, methane has been stored quite effectively in the Arctic due to the cold temperatures. Since the Arctic has warmed twice as much as the rest of the globe in the past 100 years, those methane stores are thawing and releasing their methane back to the ocean and atmosphere.
