Could we ever pull enough carbon out of the atmosphere to stop climate change?

Nov 22, 2020
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Some of the CO2 we've put into the atmosphere has been absorbed by the oceans. If we are able to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, and do so, will the oceans release excess CO2?

If the oceans do release their excess CO2, it will increase the amount of CO2 we need to remove from the atmosphere. Will it also help raise the ocean's pH?
 
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Nov 22, 2020
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Its not the carbon in the air that warms the sea surface temperature. It's the long chain carbon in the water (Turbidity) and the Heat in the water in streams going into the estuaries, wetlands and coastal waters. This leads to the creation of Anoxic zones. Heterotrophic bacteria decomposing the dirty warm water take oxygen out and respire carbon dioxide. Water holds a thousand times more Heat than Air. So lets think with Common sense in Science.
 
Aug 22, 2020
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Also, IMHO, Global Warming problem is already getting solved by humanity using solar & wind (& nuclear) power more & more & there are large scale tree planting campaigns getting done!
Right/best way to store CO2 is by planting trees!!! (NOT insanely dangerous geoengineering!)
If Earth's forests were not greatly destroyed since beginning of industrial age, would there be a GW problem today, regardless of how much fossil fuel usage? Please research/simulate/calculate that!!

Also, IMHO, storing CO2 in old natural gas wells maybe OK, but using it for fracking is extremely dangerous!
Crashing/filling deep rocks under our feet using a gas is even more dangerous than doing fracking using water!
Both needs to be banned ASAP unless we want to see much bigger earthquakes & maybe even worse like ground collapse event(s)!!!
 
Jul 27, 2020
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Some of the CO2 we've put into the atmosphere has been absorbed by the oceans. If we are able to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, and do so, will the oceans release excess CO2?

Yes, the oceans will yield up CO2 if we start removing it. As CO2, it is a gas, and can dissolve into water to produce carbonic acid. Since the oceans are slightly basic (pH ca. 8.2), they can absorb a lot more CO2 than fresh water, which is typically near neutral (pH 7).

Formation of carbonic acid is shown as CO2 + H20 -> H2CO3 -> H+ + HCO3-. The proton from carbonic acid then drives pH down in the oceans. As long as the atmospheric CO2 is high, the carbonic acid formation will remain high, driving down the pH, which ultimately will cause problems for many species.

However, the above reactions are reversible, and the dominant form in the oceans depend on the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. As you delete it from the air, the reaction shifts to the left, favoring formation of CO2. Since CO2 can out-gas from the water to increase pH to where we want it, removal of CO2 will reverse this trend.

But the problem is more dire than many realize. It is not just carbon generated by humans, but the warming planet has begun to release carbon from other sources. As the article in Nature below indicates, we probably need a miraculous invention for direct air capture and develop a means of sequestering the CO2. It does not appear there is sufficient land mass to grow enough biomass to compensate for the ever-increasing CO2 loading.


"Permafrost collapse is accelerating carbon release"

1. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01313-4
 
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Yes, the oceans will yield up CO2 if we start removing it. As CO2, it is a gas, and can dissolve into water to produce carbonic acid. Since the oceans are slightly basic (pH ca. 8.2), they can absorb a lot more CO2 than fresh water, which is typically near neutral (pH 7).

Formation of carbonic acid is shown as CO2 + H20 -> H2CO3 -> H+ + HCO3-. The proton from carbonic acid then drives pH down in the oceans. As long as the atmospheric CO2 is high, the carbonic acid formation will remain high, driving down the pH, which ultimately will cause problems for many species.

However, the above reactions are reversible, and the dominant form in the oceans depend on the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. As you delete it from the air, the reaction shifts to the left, favoring formation of CO2. Since CO2 can out-gas from the water to increase pH to where we want it, removal of CO2 will reverse this trend.

But the problem is more dire than many realize. It is not just carbon generated by humans, but the warming planet has begun to release carbon from other sources. As the article in Nature below indicates, we probably need a miraculous invention for direct air capture and develop a means of sequestering the CO2. It does not appear there is sufficient land mass to grow enough biomass to compensate for the ever-increasing CO2 loading.


"Permafrost collapse is accelerating carbon release"

1. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01313-4
Total nonsense, because the current warming trend began at the ebb of the last ice age which was over 20,000 years ago. How did my car or my fathers or grandfathers car start that warming

But you believe everything you hear and see on TV, you always did and will
 
Jul 27, 2020
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If the oceans do release their excess CO2, it will increase the amount of CO2 we need to remove from the atmosphere. Will it also help raise the ocean's pH?

So yes, removing CO2 from the atmosphere would out-gas dissolved CO2 in the oceans, driving up pH. And yes it will increase the amount of CO2 we need to remove from the atmosphere.

It is basically a balancing act between the existing pH of the oceans and how much CO2 is in the atmosphere. The more CO2, the more acidic the oceans. The more acidic the oceans, the more stressed the food chain, etc.
 
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So yes, removing CO2 from the atmosphere would out-gas dissolved CO2 in the oceans, driving up pH. And yes it will increase the amount of CO2 we need to remove from the atmosphere.

It is basically a balancing act between the existing pH of the oceans and how much CO2 is in the atmosphere. The more CO2, the more acidic the oceans. The more acidic the oceans, the more stressed the food chain, etc.
LOL so if we reduce CO2 in the atmosphere then the oceans start polluting the air.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Not everything on TV is real

Really
 
Sep 22, 2020
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The article is missing the whole ocean reef carbon sink (and without acidifying the oceans). There's some students who have figured out a way to build (restore) reefs at an extremely rapid rate versus letting nature take its course (I wish I had the link to their research--if I find it I'll post it). As long as the right locations are found (so it doesn't interfere with shipping channels) you could build reefs in addition to forestation (and apparently the baggage this article says that brings with it). Scuba divers such as myself would love it. Additionally, you can populate the reefs with the plant species that aren't heat sensitive so they are more tolerant than most of the reefs now. I'm much more of a fan of helping nature restore itself and managing to correct for how we disturb nature.
 
Nov 24, 2020
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What would it take to remove 500 billion tons of carbon dioxide from our shared atmosphere and oceans in the next 100 years? If all our medium sized global cities built Tesla Giga factory sized Giga farms could we reverse our carbon emissions enough to reverse climate change?

These gigantic renewably powered buildings could be profitable by growing and selling food to their nearby cities in one half. In the other half these buildings could grow high carbon sequestering biology making biochar for biomass extraction and then geologic burial rebuilding our coal mines, oilfields and global soils thus removing industrial carbon emissions.

What is the highest carbon sequestering and fast growing biology? How much carbon could each Giga farm sequester annually? How many Giga farms would we need to reverse climate change to safe and healthy levels of carbon, say 270 ppm, (now 414 ppm) over the next 100 years?
 

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What would it take to remove 500 billion tons of carbon dioxide from our shared atmosphere and oceans in the next 100 years? If all our medium sized global cities built Tesla Giga factory sized Giga farms could we reverse our carbon emissions enough to reverse climate change?

These gigantic renewably powered buildings could be profitable by growing and selling food to their nearby cities in one half. In the other half these buildings could grow high carbon sequestering biology making biochar for biomass extraction and then geologic burial rebuilding our coal mines, oilfields and global soils thus removing industrial carbon emissions.

What is the highest carbon sequestering and fast growing biology? How much carbon could each Giga farm sequester annually? How many Giga farms would we need to reverse climate change to safe and healthy levels of carbon, say 270 ppm, (now 414 ppm) over the next 100 years?
LOL if you took all that Carbon out of the air you would actually increase the size of deserts. Why would anyone want to do this? The fools who believe in AGW are also behaving as though Carbon is the only thing that pollutes the oceans. Are you aware that millions of tons of Hydrogen Sulfide is dumped into the oceans every year and that there is nothing that you can do to stop this because the Earth is doing it in the first place.

Yawn
 
Mar 6, 2020
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Total nonsense, because the current warming trend began at the ebb of the last ice age which was over 20,000 years ago. How did my car or my fathers or grandfathers car start that warming

But you believe everything you hear and see on TV, you always did and will
The last ice age had a warming trend, but the current increase has nothing to do with that. One car won't do anything, and 100 cars won't do anything, but a few million?
 
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The last ice age had a warming trend, but the current increase has nothing to do with that. One car won't do anything, and 100 cars won't do anything, but a few million?
The last ice age ended 20000 years ago, from 20000 to 10000 years ago 900 North South miles of glaciation melted. This melting was far faster than is happening today.

But you go right ahead believing what your TV tells you
 
Jul 27, 2020
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The last ice age had a warming trend, but the current increase has nothing to do with that.

Technically the pull-back of glaciers is called an inter-glacial period. We have been in an ice age for over 2.5 million years (1). My reading of the issue indicates a true ice age is when there is ice somewhere on the planet at all times. We are in what is believed to be the 5th ice age of earth, and is known as the Quaternary Ice Age (2).

Superimposed on the current ice age are increases and decreases in glaciation. We are currently in an interglacial period. It is predicted that global warming may prevent the next glaciation. These glaciations are commonly known as ice ages since so much ice covers a large part of the planet.

But you are certainly right - the current increase in warming has nothing to do with glacial periods or ice ages. It is a direct cause of human activity. Those who push this tired old story that the warming is all natural are never going to understand the data. Or they probably don't want to. Inconvenient facts, some have labeled them......


1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_age


2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaternary
 
Jan 11, 2022
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Yes we can. The two greatest wastes in human history are two billion hectares of depleted lands and 200 million persons seeking work. We can combine these to comprise our greatest assets, employing anyone who wants the work sustainably developing resources including reforesting the Earth, without taking money away from any other needs via Reconomy. Cheers.
 
Yes we can. The two greatest wastes in human history are two billion hectares of depleted lands and 200 million persons seeking work. We can combine these to comprise our greatest assets, employing anyone who wants the work sustainably developing resources including reforesting the Earth, without taking money away from any other needs via Reconomy. Cheers.

If we covered all available land areas with [native] forests, would that remove sufficient carbon dioxide which has arisen from the burning of coal/ oil which is from the accumulation of carbon reserves over millions of years...