Carbon dioxide is known to contribute to climate. When levels of CO2 increase, the atmosphere reacts with rising temperatures. The linkage here is well understood, and accepted as a proven hypothesis. It follows that if we reduce our emissions of CO2 that atmospheric levels will gradually reduce and the impacts to global temperatures will also be reduced. New research by Princeton University has shed light on this and indicates that there is a lingering effect of CO2 that could have long term consequences. The study suggests that it might take a lot less carbon than previously thought to reach the global temperature scientists deem unsafe.
The Princeton researchers simulated an Earth on which, after 1,800 billion tons of carbon entered the atmosphere, all carbon dioxide emissions suddenly stopped. Scientists commonly use the scenario of emissions screeching to a stop to gauge the heat-trapping staying power of carbon dioxide. Within a millennium of this simulated shutoff, the carbon itself faded steadily with 40 percent absorbed by Earth’s oceans and landmasses within 20 years and 80 percent soaked up at the end of the 1,000 years.
By itself, such a decrease of atmospheric carbon dioxide should lead to cooling. But the heat trapped by the carbon dioxide took a divergent track.
After a century of cooling, the planet warmed by 0.37 degrees Celsius (0.66 Fahrenheit) during the next 400 years as the ocean absorbed less and less heat. While the resulting temperature spike seems slight, a little heat goes a long way here. Earth has warmed by only 0.85 degrees Celsius (1.5 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates that global temperatures a mere 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than pre-industrial levels would dangerously interfere with the climate system. To avoid that point would mean humans have to keep cumulative carbon dioxide emissions below 1,000 billion tons of carbon, about half of which has already been put into the atmosphere since the dawn of industry.
Article by Roger Greenway, appearing courtesy Environmental News Network.
