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What I'm curious about is the mechanisms that might counteract global warming. The earth has cycled in the past between hot and cold periods, so there are obvio

by jobu 12y ago

What I'm curious about is the mechanisms that might counteract global warming. The earth has cycled in the past between hot and cold periods, so there are obviously natural mechanisms that cause it to reverse as well. Could we harness these mechanisms to keep the earth compatible with human habitation?

dflock 12y ago
I think that this mechanism is mostly CO2 being slowly weathered out of the atmosphere and disposed of, mostly via limestone formation. This takes a very long time and is very slow, so it can only catch up if you stop pumping it out.
- agapos 12y ago
  The colder oceans are notable natural CO2 absorbents, plus we have to mention the effects of life itself: photo-synthesizing plants and unicellular creatures. Like the historical ones that fixated enough carbon to create today's wast coal, oil and methane fields. As I recall, there is a group of creatures that may did the first big wave of carbon fixation at the beginning of life, binding CO2 and releasing the important O2 that enabled the appearance of complex life forms, but I can't remember it's name.
  - dflock 12y ago
    Algae, or Green/blue Algae, more specifically.
tim333 12y ago
The earth has sometimes been cooled by volcanoes putting stuff in the atmosphere and that could be simulated by pumping sulphur dioxide though whether its a good idea is dubious. Funnily enough the present man made warming may actually help keep the earth compatible with human habitation as there are arguments it may head in to another ice age otherwise.
madaxe_again 12y ago
Well, the main feedback mechanism that I can see being a major influence in the beginning chaos is that of albedo. In short, atmospheric warming causes more water vapour higher in the atmosphere, causing higher and denser clouds - which will reflect most light and energy and prevent it from reaching the surface. This in turn could cause snow and ice cover on the ground, due to lowered surface temperatures, which would feed further into a cooling system. You'd expect to see this effect most prominently in continental rain shadow areas, particularly at altitude. Frankly, the outcome is unknowable, there are too many variables, both known and unknown. The only element which does seem inevitable is that there will be major changes to human civilisation. Oh - one thought I did have was blanketing the Arctic in artificial icebergs - just big white floating plastic platforms, millions of them.

by jobu 12y ago

dflock 12y ago

I think that this mechanism is mostly CO2 being slowly weathered out of the atmosphere and disposed of, mostly via limestone formation. This takes a very long time and is very slow, so it can only catch up if you stop pumping it out.

agapos 12y ago
The colder oceans are notable natural CO2 absorbents, plus we have to mention the effects of life itself: photo-synthesizing plants and unicellular creatures. Like the historical ones that fixated enough carbon to create today's wast coal, oil and methane fields. As I recall, there is a group of creatures that may did the first big wave of carbon fixation at the beginning of life, binding CO2 and releasing the important O2 that enabled the appearance of complex life forms, but I can't remember it's name.
- dflock 12y ago
  Algae, or Green/blue Algae, more specifically.

tim333 12y ago

The earth has sometimes been cooled by volcanoes putting stuff in the atmosphere and that could be simulated by pumping sulphur dioxide though whether its a good idea is dubious. Funnily enough the present man made warming may actually help keep the earth compatible with human habitation as there are arguments it may head in to another ice age otherwise.

madaxe_again 12y ago

Well, the main feedback mechanism that I can see being a major influence in the beginning chaos is that of albedo. In short, atmospheric warming causes more water vapour higher in the atmosphere, causing higher and denser clouds - which will reflect most light and energy and prevent it from reaching the surface. This in turn could cause snow and ice cover on the ground, due to lowered surface temperatures, which would feed further into a cooling system. You'd expect to see this effect most prominently in continental rain shadow areas, particularly at altitude. Frankly, the outcome is unknowable, there are too many variables, both known and unknown. The only element which does seem inevitable is that there will be major changes to human civilisation. Oh - one thought I did have was blanketing the Arctic in artificial icebergs - just big white floating plastic platforms, millions of them.