Posted on 10/22/2007 7:00:32 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Just days after the Nobel prize was awarded for global warming work, an alarming new study finds that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing faster than expected.
Carbon dioxide emissions were 35 percent higher in 2006 than in 1990, a much faster growth rate than anticipated, researchers led by Josep G. Canadell, of Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Increased industrial use of fossil fuels coupled with a decline in the gas absorbed by the oceans and land were listed as causes of the increase.
"In addition to the growth of global population and wealth, we now know that significant contributions to the growth of atmospheric CO2 arise from the slowdown" of nature's ability to take the chemical out of the air, said Canadell, director of the Global Carbon Project at the research organization.
The changes "characterize a carbon cycle that is generating stronger-than-expected and sooner-than-expected climate forcing," the researchers report.
Kevin Trenberth of the climate analysis section of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. said the "paper raises some very important issues that the public should be aware of: Namely that concentrations of CO2 are increasing at much higher rates than previously expected and this is in spite of the Kyoto Protocol that is designed to hold them down in western countries,"
Alan Robock, associate director of the Center for Environmental Prediction at Rutgers University, added: "What is really shocking is the reduction of the oceanic CO2 sink," meaning the ability of the ocean to absorb carbon dioxide, removing it from the atmosphere.
The researchers blamed that reduction on changes in wind circulation, but Robock said he also thinks rising ocean temperatures reduce the ability to take in the gas.
"Think that a warm Coke has less fizz than a cold Coke," he said.
Neither Robock nor Trenberth was part of Canadell's research team.
Carbon dioxide is the leading "greenhouse gas," so named because their accumulation in the atmosphere can help trap heat from the sun, causing potentially dangerous warming of the planet.
While most atmospheric scientists accept the idea, finding ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has been a political problem because of potential effects on the economy. Earlier this month, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former Vice President Al Gore for their work in calling attention to global warming.
"It turns out that global warming critics were right when they said that global climate models did not do a good job at predicting climate change," Robock commented. "But what has been wrong recently is that the climate is changing even faster than the models said. In fact, Arctic sea ice is melting much faster than any models predicted, and sea level is rising much faster than IPCC previously predicted."
According to the new study, carbon released from burning fossil fuel and making cement rose from 7.0 billion metric tons per year in 2000 to 8.4 billion metric tons in 2006. A metric tons is 2,205 pounds.
The growth rate increased from 1.3 percent per year in 1990-1999 to 3.3 percent per year in 2000-2006, the researchers added.
Trenberth noted that carbon dioxide is not the whole story — methane emissions have declined, so total greenhouse gases are not increasing as much as carbon dioxide alone. Also, he added, other pollution plays a role by cooling.
There are changes from year to year in the fraction of the atmosphere made up of carbon dioxide and the question is whether this increase is transient or will be sustained, he said.
"The theory suggests increases in (the atmospheric fraction), as is claimed here, but the evidence is not strong," Trenberth said.
The paper looks at a rather short time to measure a trend, Robock added, "but the results they get certainly look reasonable, and much of the paper is looking at much longer trends."
The research was supported by Australian, European and other international agencies.
PNAS: http://www.pnas.org
fyi,, This was in the archives..
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1838900/posts
Carbon Dioxide Emissions Down
NY Times ^ | May 24, 2007 | ANDREW C. REVKIN
Posted on 05/24/2007 1:04:23 AM PDT by neverdem
National Briefing | Science and Health
Emissions of carbon dioxide from fuel burned in the United States dropped 1.3 percent in 2006 compared with an all-time peak reached the year before, according to preliminary data from the Energy Department. The United States remains the leading source of the carbon dioxide, the main emission linked to global warming. The White House quickly hailed the downturn, even in the face of economic growth, as evidence that President Bush’s policies for slowing growth in emissions without a mandatory cap were working.
We are all going to die....when you see the global warming coming place head between knees and kiss your butt goodbye...(sarcasm)
Well now that the ozone layer over the North Pole has returned to it’s normal size, you know something else would conveniently appear to scare the hell out of the masses.
This couldn’t possibly be cyclicle. The Ozone hole was reported not to be. It’s a calamity I tell ya! We’re doomed!
Again!
Your post refers and article to US CO2 emissions, the original article for this thread refers to total global CO2.
US emissions can go down as worldwide CO2 goes up, obviously, driven by China and India.
We need MORE warmth. It’s going to be almost 10 degrees BELOW normal tonight!
Heavy metals from Chinese coal have been identified as taken up by fish in the Great Lakes for the past 30 years.
But I switched my house to Gorebulbs and got solar hot water! How can things be getting worse?
Methane is up too. I personally contributed that when I read this article.
We can't have Carbon Credits Trading if we don't scare the hell out of civilized countries and get them to believe this horse-pucky.
Follow the money....a business opportunity that is potentially worth TRILLIONS of dollars is not going to be stopped when people are willing to believe these goofballs.
You can see this rational Nobel-prize winner who is the "expert", right?
(snicker....)
Is it not true that global warming is 98% due to WATER VAPOR, not CO2?
I thought it was the deadly DiHydrogen Monoxide.
Dang! A little less hair, hat, mustasch....and you got Hitler.
do they take into account the record cold in the southern hemisphere this winter? Will the colder water there take up some of the slack??
Well, then it's YOUR fault, silly!
You should be using COLD water to reduce global worming!
No problem. I died 10 years ago because of the hole in the ozone layer.
Carbon dioxide emissions were 35 percent higher in 2006 than in 1990, a much faster growth rate than anticipated...
STOP THE TAPE !!!
CO2 in the atmosphere DOES NOT EQUAL CO2 emissions !!! Could not increased emissions be converted to O2 via increased photosynthesis???
The higher levels of CO2 is a direct result of the closing ozone hole
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