Simplified CO2 Flow Schematics

By Karl J. Hansen, klimabedrag.dk

As Prof. David Archibald says: "You could not expect the anthropogenic proportion of the atmospheric CO2 to increase."  This is has been known to many, for many years.  But those who wants to scaremong or tax us, turn the blind eye.


I suggest thinking of the atmosphere (c1), the upper oceans (c2) and the deep oceans (c3) as three containers connected with tube (t1) and tube (t2).  If we substitute the CO2 concentration, incorporating the molecule pressure, with a weight index (w1,w2 and w3), we can determine the direction of CO2 movement between c1, c2 and c3.  The thickness of the tubes will determine the speed with which the transfer will take place, so let us call them t1 and t2 assuming t is measured in years and equilibrium is a few tau.

Assuming we start with c1, c2 and c3 in equilibrium and suddenly increase the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and therefore w1, we can assume the following:

When w1 is higher than w2, then the first 100 meter meter of the oceans fill with this higher level of CO2 from the air.  The time it takes (t1) before the the flow stops is a couple of years.
When w2 is higher than w3, then the deep ocean fill with this higher level of CO2 from the upper ocean layer.  The time it takes (t2) before the flow stops is about 800 years.

We have long known, except from Al Gore, that there is this 800 years propagation delay time for the CO2 going from the deep oceans, which holds the largest amount of CO2, to the atmosphere and visa versa.  We know this from geologic records as these show an 800 years delay before an increase in temperature manage to increase atmospheric CO2.

Part of the current CO2 increase comes from applied heating of the oceans some 800 years ago.  As for the future, the oceans contribution to atmospheric CO2 is likely to decline during the next couple of hundred years.  The result will probably be that future politicians and the green movement will claim success:  "There you see, it really helped taxing CO2."

Prof. David Archibald has some very interesting articles.