Much worse is the estimated 10,000 billion tons of methane under the oceans.  A fraction of that is in shallow water deposits that are extremely susceptable to atmospheric temperature pulses.  Furthermore, a underwater landslide or earthquake could release a tremendous amount of methane suddenly (a sudden release of less than 30 billion tons of methane would be like doubling the CO2 level of the air).

The methane hydrate carbon reservior contains TWICE the carbon of all other fossil fuels, and it is ice, so will release the greenhouse gas when it melts, whereas conventional fossil fuels need to be burned to release their carbon store.

It is important to know that the earth’s methane hydrate reserves have melted before, triggered by an inbalance in the earth’s carbon cycle (probably volcanic).  This chain reaction has resulted in severe global warming episodes.  Mankind’s greenhouse gas emissions are about 30 times more than past triggers, and that means the chain reaction of melting methane hydrate will happen sooner, proceed faster, and therefore be much much more severe.

In my opinion, since mankind is unlike to so severely cut their greenhouse gas emissions so fast as to avoid triggering runaway global warming, the only solution is to remove the CO2 from the air after it has been emitted.

Nature already removes about half of mankind’s CO2 emissions, but she is being overwhelmed.  I suggest enhancing nature’s ability to remove the CO2 from the air using genetic engineering.  Perhaps seeding a GMO into the ocean.