Could methane hydrates cause an extinction today on the order of the Permian extinction event?

Question

Seriously, could methane hydrates (also known as clathrates) cause a global warming trend that wipes out something like 90% of all life on earth?

I know that there are a lot of people who think that it's "junk science", but is it true? It has been suggested that a methane release caused the Permian extinction, but could it happen today? And just how much methane hydrate is a the bottom of the oceans?

On one hand, you have the fear that global warming will disable the thermohaline currents by adding too much fresh water into the ocean and cause a new Ice Age by weakening the ocean currents ... and other the other, you have a massive global warming trend caused by release of methane hydrates. Which one is the truth? Or is there too little scientific information to tell?

Answer 1

There is too little scientific information to tell.

Answer 2

Junk science is to strong of a label. The methane hydrates are know to exist in great quantities at the bottom of oceans. If the temperature at these regions warmed enough to melt them, then vast quantities of methane would be released into the atmosphere.

It is very difficult to say what events would lead to deep ocean temperatures rising and by how much. The ocean is a temperature gradient, and what happens at the surface does not directly translate into changes at the bottom.

Answer 3

The earth's ecology tends toward stability, not instability. If there is an excess of CO2, for example, plants will thrive which will produce oxygen and use up the available CO2. Methane is not a stable gas. It will react with oxygen and produce CO2 and water over time. That is why methane, which is produced by biological and non-biological processes on a continuous basis, remains a trace gas in the atmosphere.