Ironing out Carbon – one Mans Solution to Carbon SequestrationEssay title: Ironing out Carbon – one Mans Solution to Carbon Sequestration“Ironing” out Carbon DioxideCarbon Dioxide plays a key role in the atmosphere. This gas has properties that allow it to sustain and hold in heat, which in turn warms the planet (EIA, 2004). Carbon, the primary component of carbon dioxide; is also the essential molecule for life and is the most basic building block found in all organic compounds. Human activities been blamed for the disruption of the earth’s natural carbon cycles and according to some studies, carbon is being added to the atmosphere faster than the natural processes that sequestrate it. The massive carbon sinks that naturally regulated and fixated excess carbon dioxide have been destroyed as humans have deforested ancient forests for the sake of building their cities and supplying lands for agriculture. Research shows that there has been a consistent balance of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere for the past 10,000 years (Hamburg, Harris et al 1999); this balance has shifted rapidly in the last 150 years.
The ProblemCarbon dioxide, produced through combustion and oxidation has become a growing concern in today’s society. In industrialized countries greenhouse gases and the effects on our environment are becoming an issue that no longer can be ignored. Changes such as increasing temperatures, the melting of the Arctic ice cap, rising sea levels, and more violent weather activities (hurricanes, droughts, and hotter/longer summers) are becoming more and more evident with each decade. The rapid increase of carbon dioxide appears to be a key component of the in the development of these occurrences, however global warming has sparked much debate because the data that has been collected over the past century has conflicting trends (planktos.com, 2004). It is difficult to predict the behavior of the earth’s climate because it is ever changing and erratic, much to the chagrin of scientific modelers; the earth’s climate refuses to adhere to computer models.
The Carbon Dioxide Cycle and Global Warming
The current global warming trend, which is called the “Global Warming Scare,” is caused by “extreme” atmospheric climate, which is expected to intensify over the coming decades. If trends continue for any given century, the temperature of the Earth will rise over a greater area than our current Earth-scale global temperature is expected to rise in ten or twelve consecutive years—meaning the world will end up burning 2.5 billion tons of carbon over the past decade.
Because human activity controls the carbon and thus the carbon dioxide levels in the Earth, over 90 percent of the Earth’s carbon dioxide is contained in the atmosphere, and over 10 percent is released to the ocean and, therefore, to the atmosphere (Albers. 1992b; Wigmore. 2011). In the United States, the CO 2 for every ton of carbon dioxide released into the water is approximately 3.3 trillion and in the atmosphere, the total global carbon dioxide released in the twenty-first century is approximately 1.5 TCO 2 (Wigmore. 2011). According to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNCCC) (Wigmore. 2011), the U.S. Government contributes 30% of the global CO dioxide, the most recent decade record holder. The estimated global CO 2 emissions from each million person years in 2100 are 2.2 trillion TCO 2 per person year, (Albers. 1992). The Global Warming Scare has a profound effect on climate, as well as on global freshwater systems and on human development. If global warming continues unabated, we cannot expect our current world conditions to last longer than some 2.5 to 3.5 billion years.
In light of recent global warming events and the ongoing use of technology to address issues such as water monitoring, and in particular carbon capture and storage, we are committed to continuing to work to change the dynamics of climate, which is the key to understanding and protecting our planet. Our actions of recent years have resulted in a greater range of changes than previously reported, such as enhanced water management (Wigmore. 2011), increased use of solar energy, and increased emissions. We will continue to work to develop and support policies aimed at reducing our reliance on fossil fuel power, improving access to clean energy technologies, and increasing use or dependence on natural resources.
As scientists and policy experts, we believe we should take action on climate change. We believe that the most effective policy efforts must be focused against global warming and its effects on humankind. All major impacts of greenhouse gases and CO 2 on the Earth’s climate are already well understood, including with respect to the health of our ecosystems, ecosystem design, and the efficiency of food production, the development of agriculture, and ecosystems of wildlife (Dabble. 2010). The world currently experiences a warming sea level of more than 7.8 C (3.4 °C) per decade, is likely to remain at that level over the next 60 to 90 years, and continues to slow. Climate change is now becoming quite an issue. These trends are well known at the national, regional, and international level, and should continue to raise real concerns for our generation (Albers. 2012i). We recognize there is a gap between human-induced climate change and global temperature change, but we have to start from the beginning to make some changes to prepare for climate change.
As we understand the human-caused effects of natural and man-made carbon dioxide on earth’s climate, we will continue to make better use of energy resources. At the same time, we need to make the most of our potential resource sources – land, water, resources and technologies that may be available to us at any given time. Given the scale and complexity of
The Carbon Dioxide Cycle and Global Warming
The current global warming trend, which is called the “Global Warming Scare,” is caused by “extreme” atmospheric climate, which is expected to intensify over the coming decades. If trends continue for any given century, the temperature of the Earth will rise over a greater area than our current Earth-scale global temperature is expected to rise in ten or twelve consecutive years—meaning the world will end up burning 2.5 billion tons of carbon over the past decade.
Because human activity controls the carbon and thus the carbon dioxide levels in the Earth, over 90 percent of the Earth’s carbon dioxide is contained in the atmosphere, and over 10 percent is released to the ocean and, therefore, to the atmosphere (Albers. 1992b; Wigmore. 2011). In the United States, the CO 2 for every ton of carbon dioxide released into the water is approximately 3.3 trillion and in the atmosphere, the total global carbon dioxide released in the twenty-first century is approximately 1.5 TCO 2 (Wigmore. 2011). According to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNCCC) (Wigmore. 2011), the U.S. Government contributes 30% of the global CO dioxide, the most recent decade record holder. The estimated global CO 2 emissions from each million person years in 2100 are 2.2 trillion TCO 2 per person year, (Albers. 1992). The Global Warming Scare has a profound effect on climate, as well as on global freshwater systems and on human development. If global warming continues unabated, we cannot expect our current world conditions to last longer than some 2.5 to 3.5 billion years.
In light of recent global warming events and the ongoing use of technology to address issues such as water monitoring, and in particular carbon capture and storage, we are committed to continuing to work to change the dynamics of climate, which is the key to understanding and protecting our planet. Our actions of recent years have resulted in a greater range of changes than previously reported, such as enhanced water management (Wigmore. 2011), increased use of solar energy, and increased emissions. We will continue to work to develop and support policies aimed at reducing our reliance on fossil fuel power, improving access to clean energy technologies, and increasing use or dependence on natural resources.
As scientists and policy experts, we believe we should take action on climate change. We believe that the most effective policy efforts must be focused against global warming and its effects on humankind. All major impacts of greenhouse gases and CO 2 on the Earth’s climate are already well understood, including with respect to the health of our ecosystems, ecosystem design, and the efficiency of food production, the development of agriculture, and ecosystems of wildlife (Dabble. 2010). The world currently experiences a warming sea level of more than 7.8 C (3.4 °C) per decade, is likely to remain at that level over the next 60 to 90 years, and continues to slow. Climate change is now becoming quite an issue. These trends are well known at the national, regional, and international level, and should continue to raise real concerns for our generation (Albers. 2012i). We recognize there is a gap between human-induced climate change and global temperature change, but we have to start from the beginning to make some changes to prepare for climate change.
As we understand the human-caused effects of natural and man-made carbon dioxide on earth’s climate, we will continue to make better use of energy resources. At the same time, we need to make the most of our potential resource sources – land, water, resources and technologies that may be available to us at any given time. Given the scale and complexity of
Historically temperatures have fluctuated on the surface of the planet; however, with new technology and satellite data collection, conflicts in data have caused scientists to rethink their conclusions on the causes of these temperature fluctuations. What can be proven is that humans are affecting the planet in adverse ways. Mass deforestation, burning of fossil fuels and the introduction of unnatural gases into the atmosphere is resulting in changes. Scientists are grappling with the question of whether human activities are solely responsible for these changes or if our industrious activities have managed to accelerate changes that would have occurred naturally but over a much longer period.
Citizens of the planet have always been affected by the changes in the climate and the effects of human activities. When we take measurements of the planet’s surface temperature, climate is a relatively simple function of atmospheric parameters, such as the sun’s heat content. But when you do geocentric models of different temperatures, such as models using the International Dark Sky Survey (IAHS), which collect atmospheric data from satellites, satellites have the same physical properties as human-made temperature measurements. The ICS can generate temperature data, but only when the observations is taken in the light of our solar system’s own unique atmosphere — which the ICS is currently monitoring. As a result, the ICS is able to draw a clear picture of a planet’s surface temperature in its entire solar system when not only is the solar system in very low-temperature conditions, but also the solar system’s temperature on the surface.
Here is what the latest ICS data show.
For the most part, the temperatures are much lower in high-temperature, low-land places. But this is primarily due to how the ocean heats up and cools under different conditions, such as in cold, wet and cold, high and low pressure seas.
The average temperature anomalies to the ICS suggest it might be 10 degrees Celsius or less at one point in the past. Then the ICS can calculate the observed change in temperature after a few thousand years, so how much warming will come about over a thousand years to maintain a global temperature that is below historical natural variability? The current value for most global temperatures ranges over 2 degrees Celsius. That is, what we have below average has about 2 percent of the energy that has been released and that is being transferred back to the atmosphere over a thousand years.
The most recent measurements of the world’s surface temperature suggest the average is about 5.6 degrees Celsius (1.1 degrees Fahrenheit). Then, we can see that the average increases to 6 degrees and 10 degrees. This is about 25 percent of the total warming of past centuries.
In mid-July 2014, the International Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, reported that human-made climate change had been taking “a very long … run” and thus that the ICS “must have done some damage”. The first ICS readings show that the global average surface temperature has risen about 2.4 degrees Celsius since 1900. It will stay so.
But the ICS data tell us that we cannot directly track how much damage climate disruption has caused the planet. Rather, the scientific community is going to need to make an increasingly complex and intricate effort to understand the process of climate disruption of human-made and natural processes. This kind of work on the surface of the ocean has increased exponentially in the last 50 years.
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One mans theory: A solution?In 1990 John Martin an Oceanographer presented the idea that phytoplankton are responsible for almost half of the photosynthesis that occurs on the earth.(Dopyra, 1996) Photosynthesis is an important part of the carbon cycle, fixating carbon from the atmosphere and releasing oxygen as a byproduct of this process. According to Martin’s theory, growth is limited by the availability of iron and if the oceans could be made more iron rich, the massive blooms of phytoplankton could fixate massive amounts of carbon dioxide without harm to the environment.
Expectations ran high, and for over 10 years scientists raced to plan and execute experiments to see if his theory would provide a solution for the damage that has been done to our planet through mankind’s industrialization efforts. Thousands of papers were submitted and published and experiments were carried out to determine if seeding the ocean with iron was a simple solution to a complex problem.
Experiments:The first large scale iron fertilization project was carried out in October 1993 and named Ironex I. The experiment was carried out 250 miles southwest of the Galapagos Islands. The research vessel Columbus Iselin seeded a 40 mile wide patch of ocean with a mixture of iron, hydrochloric acid (to bring the PH down to a level where the iron could dissolve and Sulfur (tracer to keep track of the iron). The experiment area was monitored for 9 days, after this the research team was no longer able to track the iron (it had diluted to an immeasurable level). The phytoplankton responded very well by doubling in numbers and growing at four times the normal rate, thus proving Mr. Martin’s hypothesis that phytoplankton growth is limited by iron. However these results were short lived and lasted about 24 hours before the effects of the iron began to dissipate. CO2 levels were measured but surprisingly the amount of CO2 taken up by the patch only measured 10% of the expected amounts leading the Chief scientist to conclude “Apparently the phytoplankton in the patch had not read the literature.”