[Deek]

This reminds me of a documentary shown ~10 years ago. In it, the featured scientist (as I recall it was a woman), was pointing out that the earth is currently in an Ice Age (defined as a period with Ice at the poles). She also pointed out that Ice Ages are an abnormal occurrence on earth, and are not a stable state.

Most interesting, as I recall, was that she pointed out how much CO2 was being dumped from the dissolving of the limestone in the Himalayas and the Chinese Steps. I don't recall the numbers, but the amount of CO2 was very large. She opined that recent geological activity was the cause, and that there was no effective way to stop it. There was also a short blurb implying that earth would be much more habitable when the Ice Age concludes.

If anyone recalls the name, etc. of this documentary, I would very much enjoy the opportunity to see it again.

[rottndog]

I saw the same documentary--haven't seen it since (wonder why?). The theory was that CO2 is self regulating--because the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau are at such a high altitude, they experience an enormous amount of precipitation. As water travels down the mountains and streams, a chemical reaction with the geology results in the absorption of CO2--they confirmed this by monitoring CO2 levels increasing in the water as it traveled downstream. If there is more rain, there will be more absorption of CO2, and hence more CO2 pulled from the atmosphere. Lower CO2 levels would lead to less rain, which would result in less CO2 being absorbed from the atmosphere, which would result in higher atmospheric CO2 levels.

[LibWhacker]

Hi, Deek... Interesting. Never heard that theory before. Is this what you're referring to? Raymo also says a little bit about it on her website.