Carbon dioxide level highest in 650,000 years

Mongabay.com ^ | 11/24/2005 | Staff

[hinckley buzzard]

most of us probably could go back to the hunter-gatherer lifestyle if we had to.

I have enough deer in my back lot to last me all winter.

[Ichneumon]

[Sunspots appear to intensify the Sun’s brightness and energy output]

I seem to recall learning that sunspots were relatively cool spots on the sun's surface. Has that interpretation now been reversed? Any solar astronomers in the house?

The sunspots *themselves* are relatively cool, but while they're active, the *rest* of the Sun exhibits more magnetic and other kinds of energy activity.

During an uncharacteristically long 75-year period with virtually no sunspots (1645-1715), there was a "little ice age" of severely cold weather on Earth.

[Barney59]

I think we'll go see CHICKEN LITTLE...

[Westlander]

I Have 10 face cords of wood for my wood stove. Wish this alleged global warming would kick in.

[Tannerone]

Ok, please post the data gathered 650,000 years ago and statements of methods and mythology. As well as an equipment list.

Please include translation software to convert data gathered to present day US English.

Just curious but was solar power used to drive the data recorders 650,000 years ago?

[Dustbunny]

Sounds as though 'Chicken Little' has been at work again.

[holden]

This ice cap which had a depth of about 12,000,000 feet

Gee, only 2340 miles thick! It sounds as if someone should've gone back to fifth grade and check his/her answers.

Ten miles up and you're pretty well out of atmosphere, as I recall.

HF

[Ichneumon]

Mockery of the issue by conservatives is pathetic and demonstrates a lck of understanding of the issue. I guess either that or conservatives are convinced that teh rapture is coming and they wont have to worry about petty "earthly problems" anyhow. Jesus will take care of it, right?

Welcome to FreeRepublic, newbie!

[OrioleFan]

But outside the Democrat cloakroom the air was normal...

[rickylc]

I caught that too, I think the folks that put up the website reference mistook a decimal point for a comma, it should read 12,000 feet thick. Even that seems like a large number, but I've seen it referenced elsewhere and I belive it to be in the range of a number of estimates.

[PeaceBeWithYou]

Too late, he's vaporized already.

[rickylc]

Gone quicker than a melting glacier!

:)

[JDoutrider]

"Too late, he's vaporized already.

That happenned over at the $500 Gold thread...

[quantim]

Maybe, we can do away with electricity, plumbing, etc...

Sorry, not to parse your post but you neglected to mention cow, horse, sheep, lamb, pig, sheep farting (we dare not include human flatulence in the destruction of the environment) and how these elements contribute to greenhouse gasses. 

Let's not mention rotting forests, volcanoes,...HILARIOUS!

[b4its2late]

You're not going to enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend!

But my green plants will!

[ClaireSolt]

I heard a snipet on the radio that Israelis say the CO2 is greening their deserts. That fits my conviction that earth, not politicians will deal with the problem best.

[Ichneumon]

Carbon dioxide level highest in 650,000 years

That sounds pretty impressive, until you realize:

1. CO2 levels have spiked to near-modern levels several times during that period, it's not like the current level is a sudden skyrocket from a historically low figure:

(Note, this chart is sort of "backwards" from what people are used to seeing -- today's figures are on the far *left*, and the X-axis goes *back* in time, not forward in time, as you go further to the right.)

2. Also, "650,000 years" sounds like practically forever, but it's less than A THOUSANDTH of the time that life has been on Earth. I'd be more impressed if they could have said that modern CO2 levels were the highest in 10-100 *million* years. And while it's harder to get definitive readings on CO2 levels farther back, here's a chart combining the results of several different methods of estimating CO2 levels of the past several hundred million years:

Note that the timespan of the *entire* first chart (above) would take up only the reddish "smudge" on the *far* right edge of *this* graph, and that by most indications, CO2 levels in the more distant past were *MANY* multiples of today's level.

Now it's true that Earth was also pretty much a sauna at those times, also, and we probably don't want to go *that* far, but it is interesting to note that life on Earth (in the oceans, anyway) has managed to survive through CO2 levels that were TEN to TWENTY times as high as those today, and life on land has gotten through times of CO2 5-10 times higher than today.

[DB]

Airplanes can fly at 52,800 feet (10 miles up).

SpaceShipOne went up nearly 70 miles above the earth to qualify as entering space winning the $10,000,000 X-Prize.

Now 12,000,000 feet of ice would definitely get you into space... Somebody added way too many zeros...