Carbon has been slowly locked in the earth over millions of years
creating massive fossil reserves. The problem is that these reserves of
carbon are being released as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at a
rate unprecedented in the paleoclimatic record. The pre-industrial
atmospheric concentration of CO2 was around 270 parts per million by
volume (ppmv). Today it is approximately 380 ppmv and is rising by
about 20 ppmv per decade. The aim of the scientific community is that
we should stabilise atmospheric CO2 at under 500 ppmv by 2050
acknowledging that this total will nevertheless cause severe climate
damage.
The Earth receives annually energy from the sun equivalent to
178 000 terawatt years which is around 15 000 times the present worldwide
energy consumption. Of that, 30 per cent is reflected back into
space, 50 per cent is absorbed and re-radiated, and 20 per cent powers
the hydrological cycle.
Details:
Publisher: Elsevier
Author: Peter F. Smith
size: 6.33MB
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