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Windy waters may mean less greenhouse gas is stored at sea.
The ability of the Southern Ocean to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is being eroded by climate change, say environmental researchers. If the trend continues, then the ability of this ‘carbon sink’ to deal with humankind’s greenhouse emissions will be impaired.
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Posted by on May 17, 2007
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Last 5 milion years when CO2 level raised to certain level then always an unknown feedback coolled down the Earth which resulted in about 50 thousand years of ice age. Does anybody know what is the cooldown feedback? Do you believe that this time the cooldown feedback fail?
Have a nice day, Lubos
Posted by: Lubos Straka | May 18, 2007 06:31 AM
The different factors which determine CO2 dissolution in the oceans need to be accurately quantified.Any realistic model of CO2 sequestration by oceans must be able to capture the effects of changes in these factors. The ability of the global oceans to sequester CO2, much of which is anthropogenic, is of prime importance, especially in the context of the present and future efforts to curb CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions.
Posted by: Arindam Samanta | May 21, 2007 07:02 PM
I have noticed something very, very cool that science has totally missed about forests and global Warming.
The sun provides earth with far more heat energy in just one day, then all man made heat sources likely have produced since the beginning of time, combined.
This means that the balance between the 3 solar energy surface interactions (reflected, absorbed and consumed) have maybe a billion times more influence on earth's average surface temperatures then the burning of fossil fuels could possibility have.
Even if all of our new heat sources combined were actually tipping the balance enough to cause this global warming, a small increase in earth's solar energy consumption could easily compensate for it.
Modern science has not only missed the fact that forests eat solar heat for dinner, but that photosynthesis is a constant expander. Certainly you know that expansion is nature's most powerful cooling process, followed by time.
Plants use photosynthesis to separate hydrogen from water to make plant food, but they just release the oxygen. But it expands from liquid to gas, between 500-800 times.
The canned air (gas) that we clean electronics with expands 150-200 times which is more then enough to frost bite.
Because forests discharge bone chilling cold oxygen high enough in the atmosphere that it must mix into the air, forests act just like earth's natural coils on air conditioners, as earth's rotation powers the fan.
Humanity could easily reverse global warming by simply replanting enough forests.
We waste enough fresh water (flowing from rivers into seas, to irrigate most of earth's deserts. The hottest just happen to be under sea level.
All we need to do is irrigate them with this wasted fresh water source and then we can turn them into natural atmospheric air coolers.
Modern science is trying to design a big umbrella to float between the sun and earth. They went from asking "What is heating up the earth? to Science fiction, instead of just asking the second question, What has stopped cooling the planet?
You know we just stupidly chopped down around 80% of earth's forests. No other heat source (short of a meteor strike) could even be close.
I am opening a blog called earthfitness.blogspot.com.
On it I list many more ways to grow forests on wastelands, as well as other related reports. I know I don't have fancy stats, but I at least try to use common sense.
Scientists won't even talk to me because they are trained to argue over who makes up the best sounding stories(theories)instead.
Yet any third grade science class can prove what I just told you by taking temperatures of tree leaves.
You likely already realize they get quite cool during high levels of growing even in on very hot days in direct sunlight.
Have have never felt a hot well watered healthy growing tree leaf, be they don't exist.
So instead of trying to tell scientists I have decided to tell business people who can make a fortune on selling trees and buying up deserts, and others that hopefully care.
Please help me start an organization dedicated to regrowing forests on all wastelands. Let some 3td graders verify this and please report it.
You realize that the American Medical Society ignored the proof that infections are caused by contamination. So for 50 years they would not recommending that surgeons should wash their hands before operating.
We don't have 50 years to screw around with that standard stupidity of Theory Science, which has not changed.
Steven Craig
Posted by: Steven Craig | May 22, 2007 06:34 PM
I'm not sure if Steven is right or not with regards to our effect on temperature, but I heartily agree that biosphere robustness is a fundamentally important issue that is too often ignored in favour of the CO2 debate.
I think of things in the following perspective. The Earth has been much hotter in the past; it's also been much cooler. Generally, a few degrees either way don't seem to make much of a difference. At least, that's the case when the forests and oceans are diverse and healthy.
But, when biospheres collapse, disasters happen. Would the giant Tsunamis and coastal floods of the last years have happened if the reefs and sandbars were still in place? Probably yes, but the impact of those events would likely have been far less. And if wild life is diverse, then we would be far less likely to see drastic predator collapses or prey explosions when species go extinct.
The environment changes, species go extinct and evolution happens. That's all normal. But, nature needs to be robust grow and adapt as conditions change.
At least, that's my best guess.
Posted by: Colin Smith | May 24, 2007 01:29 AM
You likely already realize they get quite cool during high levels of growing even in on very hot days in direct sunlight.
Posted by: Oyunlar1 | May 27, 2007 07:47 PM