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Carbon dioxide and future climate

Abstract

The addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere due to burning fossil fuel is discussed. The release rate of carbon dioxide has been growing since at least 1950 at an average rate of 4.3% per year. If all known fossil fuel reserves in the world are consumed, a total of between 5 and 14 times the present amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will be released. The oceans would then be unlikely to withdraw the proportion of perhaps 40% which they are believed to have withdrawn up to the present. The increase in the atmosphere would be in excess of 3 times or conceivably ten times the present amount. If the reserves are used up within a few hundred years, more than half the excess carbon dioxide would remain in the atmosphere after a thousand years. The ''greenhouse'' effect of carbon dioxide is explained. The simulation with numerical models of the effects of carbon dioxide on atmospheric radiation fluxes is discussed. An estimated increase in the average annual temperature of the earth of 2.4 to 2.9C is given for doubling the carbon dioxide content; also a 7% increase in global average precipitation. The effect of increasing carbon dioxide on  More>>
Authors:
Publication Date:
Mar 01, 1977
Product Type:
Journal Article
Reference Number:
ERA-04-006562; EDB-79-021771
Resource Relation:
Journal Name: Environ. Data Serv.; (United States)
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; 01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT; 20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS; CARBON DIOXIDE; ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION; CLIMATES; FORECASTING; EARTH ATMOSPHERE; AMBIENT TEMPERATURE; MATHEMATICAL MODELS; GREENHOUSE EFFECT; AIR POLLUTION; ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS; BIOMASS; COAL; COMBUSTION; FOSSIL FUELS; GLOBAL ASPECTS; SEAS; CARBON COMPOUNDS; CARBON OXIDES; CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS; CHALCOGENIDES; CHEMICAL REACTIONS; ENERGY SOURCES; FUELS; OXIDATION; OXIDES; OXYGEN COMPOUNDS; POLLUTION; RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES; SURFACE WATERS; THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES; 500200* - Environment, Atmospheric- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (-1989); 010900 - Coal, Lignite, & Peat- Environmental Aspects; 200202 - Fossil-Fueled Power Plants- Waste Management- Noxious Gas & Particulate Emissions
OSTI ID:
6544874
Country of Origin:
United States
Language:
English
Other Identifying Numbers:
Journal ID: CODEN: EVDSB
Submitting Site:
CLA
Size:
Pages: 3-9
Announcement Date:
Dec 01, 1978

Citation Formats

Mitchell, J M. Carbon dioxide and future climate. United States: N. p., 1977. Web.
Mitchell, J M. Carbon dioxide and future climate. United States.
Mitchell, J M. 1977. "Carbon dioxide and future climate." United States.
@misc{etde_6544874,
title = {Carbon dioxide and future climate}
author = {Mitchell, J M}
abstractNote = {The addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere due to burning fossil fuel is discussed. The release rate of carbon dioxide has been growing since at least 1950 at an average rate of 4.3% per year. If all known fossil fuel reserves in the world are consumed, a total of between 5 and 14 times the present amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will be released. The oceans would then be unlikely to withdraw the proportion of perhaps 40% which they are believed to have withdrawn up to the present. The increase in the atmosphere would be in excess of 3 times or conceivably ten times the present amount. If the reserves are used up within a few hundred years, more than half the excess carbon dioxide would remain in the atmosphere after a thousand years. The ''greenhouse'' effect of carbon dioxide is explained. The simulation with numerical models of the effects of carbon dioxide on atmospheric radiation fluxes is discussed. An estimated increase in the average annual temperature of the earth of 2.4 to 2.9C is given for doubling the carbon dioxide content; also a 7% increase in global average precipitation. The effect of increasing carbon dioxide on global mean temperature is viewed in the perspective of the glacial-interglacial cycles. The warming effect of carbon dioxide may induce a ''super-interglacial'' on the present interglacial which is expected to decline toward a new ice age in the next several thousand years. Finally it is proposed that it may be necessary to phase out the use of fossil fuels before all the knowledge is acquired which would necessitate such an action.}
journal = []
journal type = {AC}
place = {United States}
year = {1977}
month = {Mar}
}