Carbon global emission trend

Figure 1.12 shows the global trend in carbon emissions. As a result of these emissions, the global temperature has already risen by 0.74°C (1.3°F). If this trend continues, by 2030 the global temperature can rise by 6°C (11°F). Just because of the thermal expansion of the waters, this will result in the rise of ocean levels by about 60 cm (23 in.). According to the UN panel report in November 2007, if the ice sheets over Western Antarctica and Greenland continue to melt, the sea level rise can reach 40 ft in a few centuries. 

Carbon intensity of global primary energy consumption, 1890 to 1995, 14 2-6 Trends and projections in U.S. carbon emissions, by sector and by fuel, 1990 to 2025, 15... 

Keeling C. D. (1993) Global historical CO2 emissions. In Trends 93 A Compendium of Data on Global Change (eds. T. A. Boden, D. P. Kaiser, R. J. Sepanski, and E. W. Stoss). ORNL/CDIAC-65. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, pp. 501-504. 

Climate changes from the time ofthe disappearance of dinosaurs to our days have also been based up on deep-sea stable isotope data oxygen isotope data provide an insight into the temperature variations, while carbon isotope data are informative on the kind of global carbon cycle perturbation (Zachos 2001). These data suggest that the present conditions of temperature are similar to the late Middle Age. However, the trend toward higher temperatures is now more difficult to contrast because of the drastic deforestation and emission of gases. 

Conversely, generating hydrogen from sustainable sources would reduce emissions of carbon monoxide and NOx, with a consequent fall in tropospheric ozone levels. This would improve air quality in many regions of the world. Furthermore, C02 emissions would be reduced, thereby slowing the global warming trend. 

Figure 4 The global disequilibrium effect. value of CO2 currently fixed into plants (associated with photosynthetic discrimination, is lower than that of older CO2 respired back to the atmospheric CO2 (no fractionation is assumed). This is due to the rapid decrease in atmospheric associated with fossil fuel emissions, on the one hand, and to the slow turnover of carbon in the biosphere, on the other hand. A similar disequilibrium occurs in the ocean where the atmospheric trend influences the values of newly formed Die, while the ocean mean DIG pool lags behind this equilibrium values due to slow mmover rates (not shown). The atmospheric trend shown is based on the best fit line to the data of Francey et al. (1999) the land organic matter trend is obtained by appl3ung global mean = 18%o, and moving it back in time by 27 yr, the first order estimate of global mean soil carbon turnover time. The resulting 0.6%o disequilibrium for the 1990s is within the range of current estimates for both land and ocean.

The Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) provides up-to-date information on trends in greenhouse gas emissions and global change http //cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/ home.html... 

The 11-15 year Kyoto targets are clearly inadequate to make any dent in future atmospheric concentrations, which is the crucial measure of danger to climate. Even if the protocol were fully implemented, it would only serve to delay by less than a decade the date in the next century at which global carbon dioxide concentrations, under current emissions trends projected by IPCC, would cross the 550 parts per million (ppm) mark that represents a doubling of preindustrial concentrations... 

FIGURE 22.5 Global C02 emissions from fossil fuel and deforestation. Data from Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory http //cdiac.esd.oml.gov/trends/emis/ tre-glob.htm. 

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