Murry Salby and Hermann Harde: Control of Atmospheric CO2 Part II

Unlike much of the Earth, surface temperature in the tropics underwent a systematic and sustained increase during the satellite era. Due to the temperature dependence of surface processes which regulate CO₂ emission, that long-term change should exert a similar influence on atmospheric CO₂.

We develop how this influence would manifest in the evolution of CO₂. Observed records are then used to investigate the interdependence of surface temperature and net CO₂ emission – the component of emission that actually changes CO₂.

Thermally-induced emission, especially from tropical land surface, is found to represent much of the observed evolution of net CO₂ emission. It accounts for sporadic intensifications of net emission that operate on interannual time scales, notably, during episodes of El Niño. Accounted for equally well is the long-term intensification of net emission during the last half century. Jointly, these unsteady components of net emission determine the thermally-induced component of anomalous CO₂. It closely tracks the observed evolution of CO₂.

Continue reading: Control of Atmospheric CO2 Part II: Influence of Tropical Warming by Murry Salby and Hermann Harde.

Unlike much of the Earth, surface temperature in the tropics underwent a systematic and sustained increase during the satellite era. Due to the temperature dependence of surface processes which regulate CO2 emission, that long-term change should exert a similar influence on atmospheric CO2.

Unlike much of the Earth, surface temperature in the tropics underwent a systematic and sustained increase during the satellite era. Due to the temperature dependence of surface processes which regulate CO₂ emission, that long-term change should exert a similar influence on atmospheric CO₂.