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Impact of sea-level rise on atmospheric CO2 concentrations
www.physorg.com ^ | 1-12-2009 | Provided by Bangor University

Posted on 01/13/2009 12:00:32 PM PST by Red Badger

The rise in sea level since the last ice age has prevented us from feeling the full impact of man-made global warming. The sea level rise has resulted in more harmful greenhouse gases being absorbed by the seas. So argue Bangor University scientists in the latest issue of Geophysical Research Letters (23/12/08), an influential US scientific journal publishing scientific advances that are likely to have immediate influence on the research of other investigators.

Over the last 22,000 years, since the last ice age, global sea level has risen by 130 m. Research by Bangor scientists Tom Rippeth and James Scourse have calculated the impact of this sea-level rise on the ability of the ocean to absorb the greenhouse gas CO2 from the atmosphere.

Currently only about half of man made CO2 emissions stay in the atmosphere. The remaining 50% are absorbed by the oceans and land-based systems such as forests. The shallow continental shelf seas, such as the North Sea, are thought to play a particularly important role in absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere

Understanding the processes controlling the absorption of CO2 on land and sea is crucial to understanding and predicting future climate change. Looking at past climates helps us understand more about how our climate works.

Dr Tom Rippeth, Senior Lecturer at Bangor University's School of Ocean Sciences says:

"We are currently getting a 50% 'discount' on the climatic impact of our fossil fuel emissions. Unfortunately, we have no guarantee that the 50% discount will continue, and if it disappears we will feel the full climatic brunt of our unrelenting emission of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels."

The growth of plankton in the ocean acts as an important mechanism to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.

Professor James Scourse, Royal Society Senior Research Fellow at the School continues: "We have been looking at how the strength of this CO2 sink has increased since the last age (22,000 years ago), as sea level has risen by about 130 m. During this time the continental shelf seas have grown by 400% - flooding an area of land equivalent to twice the area of the USA.

By combining reconstructions of past landscapes with numerical models, confirmed using fossils collected from the sea bed, we have simulated the size of this CO2 sink over the past 22,000 years. In doing so we have shown that sea-level rise has resulted in a significant increase in the ocean uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere. Our results are consistent with the timing of changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration measured in Antarctic ice cores,"

However, this impact is dwarfed when compared to the impact which man has had over the past 100 years by burning fossil fuels.

The results, however, show that without the rise in sea level, and consequent flooding of the shelf seas, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would be rising at an even faster rate due to man's activities than it currently is.

In effect, past sea-level rise has helped put a brake on the impact of anthropogenic CO2 emissions on the atmosphere.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: climatechange; climatecycles; duh; globullwarming
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The rise in sea level since the last ice age has prevented us from feeling the full impact of man-made global warming. The sea level rise has resulted in more harmful greenhouse gases being absorbed by the seas.

Okay, this is nuts............

1 posted on 01/13/2009 12:00:34 PM PST by Red Badger
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To: calcowgirl; Horusra; CygnusXI; Entrepreneur; Defendingliberty; WL-law; Genesis defender; ...
 




Beam me to Planet Gore !

2 posted on 01/13/2009 12:01:40 PM PST by steelyourfaith
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To: Red Badger

These guys are Flat Earthers.


3 posted on 01/13/2009 12:02:48 PM PST by ClearCase_guy
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To: Red Badger

I really just love these matter of fact pronouncements from the so-called “climate science” community. One gets more ridiculous than the other on a daily basis.


4 posted on 01/13/2009 12:05:10 PM PST by headstamp 2 (Been here before)
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To: Red Badger

So, they are saying complicated and not completely understood changes in natural systems helps to alter what is claimed as settled science. It look like a backhanded admission that things aren’t really as bad as the “scientists” have been predicting.


5 posted on 01/13/2009 12:07:30 PM PST by Sgt_Schultze
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To: Red Badger

Global warming is a liberal myth.


6 posted on 01/13/2009 12:10:04 PM PST by FFranco
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To: Red Badger; OKSooner; honolulugal; Killing Time; Beowulf; Mr. Peabody; RW_Whacko; SideoutFred; ...
Image and video hosting by TinyPic

FReepmail me to get on or off

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Climate Research News

Click on POGW graphic for full GW rundown

GREENIE WATCH

Ping me if you find one I've missed.



7 posted on 01/13/2009 12:10:08 PM PST by xcamel (The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it. - H. L. Mencken)
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To: Red Badger
Do you suppose that this means that "global warming" is a good thing?

If the sea level rise takes away co2, then would not a further rise take away more co2, thus shielding us further from the full inpact of global warming?

but alas, Pravada "scientists" are telling us we are descending into another ice age that will last 100,000 years.

It's hard to figure out what is going to get us...we are either going to freeze to death, or suffocate by too much c02...

I just wish these turds would leave us alone to figure out our own fate.

8 posted on 01/13/2009 12:12:17 PM PST by B.O. Plenty (Give war a chance...)
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To: headstamp 2; Sgt_Schultze; xcamel
"We are currently getting a 50% 'discount' on the climatic impact of our fossil fuel emissions.>/I>

So, we should be able to burn twice as much!..............

9 posted on 01/13/2009 12:12:18 PM PST by Red Badger (I was sad because I had no shoes to throw, until I met a reporter who had no feet.....)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Everything is in flux............


10 posted on 01/13/2009 12:13:09 PM PST by Red Badger (I was sad because I had no shoes to throw, until I met a reporter who had no feet.....)
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To: B.O. Plenty; ClearCase_guy

If this was a computer program:

1. Global warming cause sea levels to rise.

2. Sea level rise cause more CO2 to be absorbed.

3. CO2 being absorbed halts global warming.

4. Go to 1


11 posted on 01/13/2009 12:15:31 PM PST by Red Badger (I was sad because I had no shoes to throw, until I met a reporter who had no feet.....)
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To: Red Badger

I agree.
If there were no water on earth,
man would have a serious problem!


12 posted on 01/13/2009 12:16:30 PM PST by Hans
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To: Red Badger
If "the science is settled", then there would not be so many competing theories as to why we aren't "feeling it"; why it "seems" to be cooling when it is "really" warming; how it is "being masked", and all the rest of it.

That doesn't even bring up the other competing work that shows it is just plain nonsense; a non-issue; or otherwise refutes the nonsense.

13 posted on 01/13/2009 12:17:14 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (If Liberalism doesn't kill me, I'll live 'till I die!)
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To: ApplegateRanch

The basic underlying foundation to all liberal ideology is:

There MUST be a CRISIS of some kind in order for our ideas to flourish!


14 posted on 01/13/2009 12:19:26 PM PST by Red Badger (I was sad because I had no shoes to throw, until I met a reporter who had no feet.....)
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To: Red Badger

If the CO2 levels are that high, how is it that they sell CO2 generators for greenhouses and hydroponic systems? Why not just pump in more outside air?


15 posted on 01/13/2009 12:19:32 PM PST by jerry639 (Obama=false hope for delusional followers.)
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To: Red Badger

Ok, i thought global warming caused higher sea levels. But higher sea levels absorb more carbon. So, should we want higher sea levels to balance the higher carbon levels. This is just retarded.

The problem with AGW climate models, or any climate models, is the fact that planetary climate is a coupled non-linear chaotic system that is nearly impossible to model or predict. That is precisely why you see so many idiotic articles like this. The truth is, they don’t know exactly what the hell the earth’s atmosphere is doing, not do they know what it WILL do.

Idiots!


16 posted on 01/13/2009 12:19:44 PM PST by ChinaThreat
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To: jerry639

Careful. You are going to be sent to a reeducation camp.............


17 posted on 01/13/2009 12:20:57 PM PST by Red Badger (I was sad because I had no shoes to throw, until I met a reporter who had no feet.....)
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To: Red Badger
By combining reconstructions of past landscapes with numerical models, confirmed using fossils collected from the sea bed, we have simulated the size of this CO2 sink over the past 22,000 years. In doing so we have shown that sea-level rise has resulted in a significant increase in the ocean uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere. Our results are consistent with the timing of changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration measured in Antarctic ice cores,"

Uh-oh! Where did that CO^2 come from, since we were not creating it? How much got 'sucked out' of the atmosphere that was naturally there, as the sea rose, and without that 'loss', minus the miniscule % we've added over the last 1,000 (to be generous) years, what would the level be now---much higher---n'est-ce pas?

18 posted on 01/13/2009 12:25:23 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (If Liberalism doesn't kill me, I'll live 'till I die!)
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To: ApplegateRanch; Red Badger
...and as the rising sea absorbed more and more CO^2, instead of cooling, the ice kept on melting, and the sea continued to rise.

And it kept getting warmer.

19 posted on 01/13/2009 12:29:04 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (If Liberalism doesn't kill me, I'll live 'till I die!)
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To: ApplegateRanch
Where did that CO^2 come from, since we were not creating it?

Space aliens are sneaking it in thru the ozone hole?..........

20 posted on 01/13/2009 12:29:04 PM PST by Red Badger (I was sad because I had no shoes to throw, until I met a reporter who had no feet.....)
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