SCC Volume 3.4
The carbon cycle is of great importance to understand the influence of anthropogenic emissions on the atmospheric CO2 concentration, and thus, to classify the impact of these emissions on global warming.
Different models have been developed, which under simplified assumptions can well reproduce the observed CO2 concentration over recent years, but they also lead to quite con- tradictory interpretations of the human impact. In this contribution we consider, how far such suppositions are realistic or must be made responsible for significant misinterpretations. We pre- sent own calculations based on the Conservation Law, which reproduce all details of the measured atmospheric CO2 concentration over the Mauna Loa Era. From these calculations we derive an anthropogenic contribution to the observed increase of CO2 over the Industrial Era of only 15%. The importance of only one unitary time scale for the removal of anthropogenic and natural CO2 emissions from the atmosphere, characterized by an effective absorption time, is discussed.
Continue Reading: Understanding Increasing CO2 in the Atmosphere. By Hermann Harde