Global Warming on Free Republic
Posted on 05/21/2012 12:43:28 AM PDT by neverdem
Ecosystems haven’t maxed out ability to absorb fossil fuel emissions
Earth’s ecosystems keep soaking up more carbon as greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere, new measurements find.
The research contradicts several recent studies suggesting that “carbon sinks” have reached or passed their capacity. By looking at global measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the new work calculates instead that total sinks have increased roughly in line with rising emissions.
“The sinks have been more than able to keep up with emissions,” said Pieter Tans, an atmospheric scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo. Tans presented the findings May 15 at an annual conference on global monitoring hosted by the lab.
Careful measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide taken in the rarefied air atop Mauna Loa, Hawaii, and elsewhere have established that levels of the gas are rising steadily, from 316 parts per million in 1959 to 392 parts per million today. The question is how Earth’s great ecosystems respond to that increase. Forests can suck down carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, whereas oceans take it up proportionally as levels rise in the air.
Previous work has relied on carbon inventories that gather data from multiple sources to try to estimate how much is being put into the atmosphere and how much is being taken out every year. For the new study, Tans and his colleagues went back to basics, choosing 42 marine sites where carbon dioxide levels have been measured for decades.
The researchers then analyzed how much carbon dioxide was in the atmosphere above each of these sites over time. “Less carbon dioxide has remained in the atmosphere, relative to the amount of fossil fuel emissions, today compared to 50 years ago,” Tans said. Even including the effects of land use change, which may...
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
The ocean is calling.
As CO2 increases, so too does algae growth. This algae goes through its life cycle and dies; sinking to the bottom. On the bottom, this slime gets eaten by bacteria and oozes down into the earth. With time, it turns into oil for some later men to use it as a fuel. CO2 is then released into the atmosphere for some future algae plant.
Pretty simple, isn’t it.
Pop quiz - When did we stop speaking English in the US?
If you want to beat the global warming drum, there are more obvious things to talk about. The simple truth is, if you can quantify something and it suits your political interests, you can legislate against it.
If the ecos ever find out where all the rubber from tires goes in the environment, measure it, and tie it to some perceived ecological calamity.....well, there’s gold in those old piles of tires.
Do you realize how nothing that is?
As far as percentages go, which might mean something, we all learned in 6th grade that Oxygen made up 21% and Nitrogen comprised 78%. That's 99%, and the remaining percent is made up of trace gases like Argon, Helium and CO2.
By comparison, CO2 totals .0392%!
That's not even close to a tenth of a percent...and it's an inert, non-reactive, nontoxic substance. It's certainly not enough CO2 to form a layer anywhere, and if it could, since it's heavy, it would collect in low places like liberal's basements.
It is certainly not able to create a high altitude barrier to prevent atmospheric heat loss. However the O2 and Nitrogen are, and we should thank God for that or we'd all freeze to death.
Careful measurements...taken in the rarefied air atop Mauna Loa, Hawaii
You did NOT say that. Let me get this straight...you're measuring for a combustion gas on the top of a volcano? Even if it isn't erupting, enough hot volcanic gases can escape through the fissures or porosity in the rock to throw off the readings.
Why not just put sensors on Bay Area Transit bus tailpipes or Coal-fired power plant smoke stacks?
Your tax dollars at work.
IDIOTS!
Thanks neverdem.
I predict that in 10 years or so the new scare will be out-of-control plant growth due to the rising CO2 levels.
“If we don’t do something now, the planet will be irrevocably covered in a thick layer of plant matter. Large cities like NYC or LA will turn into tropical rain forests! OMG! OMG! We’ll all be strangled by vines!”
Or something like that. Wait for it.
Oops.
Look up "carbon cycle" and "carbon sinks."
It's common terminology, and plants are only one kind of carbon sink.
It's a highly technical scientific term....much like kitchen sink.
Global Warming on Free Republic
bbbbbbuttt that would be a negative feedback, there are only supposed to be positive feedbacks if this theory is to be believed.....
I looked at these guys comments on the board, they can’t seem to accept that there is a time delay between cause and effect.
What this study says, if we were to stop increasing our carbon emissions, that the carbon in the atmosphere would plummet as the system caught up to the increased emission rate.
Totally debunks the global warming theory and that is why they threw in a plug for the ocean chemistry, we don’t even know if the ocean is responsible for the large increasing carbon syncs. They are hanging on for dear life in hope that it is.
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