Climate Change – Page 2

Beetles in the Fog

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers.

I can only imagine that it is a curious sight. The first curious image is fog rolling onto and across a desert. A second, desert beetles facing into whatever breeze might be pushing the fog, with their beetle heads down and their beetle rears lifted upward so the fog, water laden, is pushed along its back.

These curious beetles are the Namib Desert Beetle (Stenocara gracilip) which face the breeze from the ocean and expose the wing-cases along their backs to the incoming fog and collect water from the fog that is condensed on its wing cases. Then due to the beetle’s curious posture the water droplets flow downward to the beetle’s mouth.

In the arid Namib desert on the south west coast of Africa, plants and animals must find a means to get water to survive. This is also true of many people around the world. Using methods similar to those of the beetle, devices have been constructed so some people in arid regions can harvest water from the moisture in fog. A project in Morocco has been under development since 2005. The project won a United Nations Climate Change award for the supplying villages with water from new water taps and supply line, and also for alleviating the burden on women who had to spend hours a day in drawing and hauling water from wells to supply their homes. Similar projects have been used in other arid locales that are close to an ocean.

More recently two papers were given at the 72nd Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics in Seattle Washington which took place earlier this month (November 2019). One was on the capability of gathering water characteristics of a single wire in a study related to the collection capabilities of designed projects. The other paper was based on a study conducted by Hunter King, of the University of Akron in Ohio, and colleagues which investigated how the Namib Desert Beetle collects water along its back. The abstracts of these two papers may be found at http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD19/Session/Q25.7 and http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD19/Session/Q30.1, respectively.

For the beetle the study shows how microscopic ridges, bumps and pits along the beetle’s hard wing case allow it to achieve an improved rate of water collection from the fog. The study included the development of 3D printed spheres with manufactured ridges, bumps, and pits of different configuration for testing in a wind tunnel. These test showed that the microscopic texture of the surface influences the behavior of the collected water droplets. In the case of the beetle these differences in the roughness and smoothness of the surface of the hard shell wing-case on the beetle’s back influenced the movement of the water droplets to the beetle’s mouth. The beetle is able to gather and consume water to enhance its survival in the arid desert. And it must be a wondrous sight to see.

It is through the investigation of different technologies that we, the people, will be able to find solutions to alleviate thirst, hunger, and illness around the world.

We, the fortunate few who have the most, should express or thanks always for what we have. We should also seek out ways to help our brothers and sisters who do not have the resources that we so often take for granted.

Art work above is a modification of picture borrowed from http://morawatersystems.com/biomimicry-the-namib-desert-beetle-a-source-of-inspiration/

Other articles include: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3949572/The-fog-catchers-Sahara-make-water-AIR-hundreds-people.html ; https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2016/09/197525/moroccan-fog-water-harvesting-project-wins-united-nations-award/ ; https://www.wired.com/2012/11/namib-beetle-bottle/ ; https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-20465982

Earthworms on Parade

I could hardly believe my luck. On my morning science news from the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) list was not one – but two articles on earth worms. I am a fan! I can’t remember the first time I picked up an earthworm from the sidewalk after a rain. Which, by the way, I still do. But there is no way that I can get them all, yet I hate seeing their little desiccated carcasses lying on the sidewalk the next day. It seems that they are often caught between a rock (the sidewalk) and a hard place (the dirt). After a rain the layer of ground which they normally inhabit can become saturated and the tunnels the worms make as they move about become flooded. Just like you and me, the earth worms cannot breathe under water. They breathe, as in taking in oxygen, through their skin, not through their mouths. So they will often come to the surface of the ground and wander onto the sidewalk. If they stay in the grass they are pretty much ok.

I decided to check some of what I thought I knew and ended up at the University of Illinois Extension Service where Herman the Worm holds forth on all things worm-ish, https://web.extension.illinois.edu/worms/anatomy/index.html . The site states that worms like moist environments as their skin must stay moist in order to be able to absorb oxygen. So, wet ground is good for their skin, so they can breathe easier. But saturated ground is not good; it does not allow air to penetrate to the levels of the worms. They will drown. They will escape to the surface. Earthworms also come to the surface to mate. Both are important functions for these little creatures.

But back to the main line. The first time my grandfather took me fishing, I wanted to look for worms. He took me out under a old sycamore tree on his farm and told me to dig. I was fascinated by the worms I uncovered in the dark moist soil. My grandfather told me to leave them alone, that he had other bait to use for the fish. So I took a parting look at the worms, and off we went to his boat on the river bank.

All of us have probably found worms when we have dug into the soil. And because they like to be moist it would make sense that they prefer shaded places where the earth is soft and not dried out. But where in the world are they all? Both of the articles in my AAAS science news link mentioned a coordinated study of scientists which included 6693 sites in 57 nations across the globe. The study asked about their work with earthworms. Personally, I have found that worms always show up to work on time.

And what an amazing amount of work they do. We all most likely remember a science class in grammar school in which we learned that worms are an important constituent in soil health. They aerate the soil as they tunnel about. Their tunnels allow the flow of water into deeper levels of the soils. Their droppings (known as castings) fertilize the soil. All of these; fertilizer, water , and air are important aspects of plant root growth for healthy and robust crop production.

We salute you, little worms, and out of respect I will continue to help you off the sidewalk.

Two sites with information about worms and agriculture:

University of Illinois: https://web.extension.illinois.edu/worms/anatomy/index.html

Pennsylvania State University: https://extension.psu.edu/earthworms

Information about extension services:

https://nifa.usda.gov/extension

First Drive Out

Not in ever, but today was my first drive-out since my accident and recovery. Under the laws of my State if a driver has a medical emergency of a certain type while driving, they must relinquish their driving privileges for six months. The first two months were spent in the hospital and recovering at home. But whether it is six months or four months, for someone like myself who is used to the freedom that a car gives; it was a long time.

Although I could get rides to the store or the doctor, I could not drive myself to the park for a morning walk or to the woods for a hike.

But today, the six months were done, and I could get into my car and drive myself out to the woods and fields beyond my City for a walk.

You may have noticed that I have not characterize the length or the intensity of my walk or hike. Right now, that is not what matters. I am preparing myself once again for a long hike. So, I need to engage in re-conditioning. I am preparing for a mountainous hike; a hike with both length and intensity. But I have to start with a simple walk in fields and wooded hills. I will build up to the longer, more arduous hike. My preparation is physical, and it is mental – and perhaps also spiritual.

My walk today, through woods and open fields, was my first in six months. And the drive by myself out to these woods was also my first in six months. My first drive-out was for my first walk-out. A drive in my car should not be just for the drive itself. In these days of changing climate, my drive should have a higher purpose. Each of us must be aware of and reduce our impact on the atmosphere which is driving the changing climate of our Earth. Does my simple drive out to the woods tip the scales? I don’t think so. But I must be aware that my short drive, added to your short drive, plus his and her short drives, multiplied by several billion short drives, has a significant, multiple, negative impact on the atmosphere and on the climate of our world.

But I consider my drive worthwhile. For me it is part of my physical, mental, and spiritual recovery. My walk took me back into familiar patterns and into familiar places. I walked down to the foot bridge that crosses a stream that can swell in rainy weather, but is now a wandering rivulet. My return path took me past the small wetland that resides on the back side of the upward slope of a hill. On its upward slope the hill is covered in grasses and wild flowers. It is a browsing ground for the local white-tailed deer. At a point on the far side where the woods line the open field, a stream enters from the woods. This stream on the lower part of the hill has created a wetland. The wetland resides on both sides of the the course of the meandering stream. Horse Tails and Broom Sedge dot the wetland among the other wet grasses. It is is bordered with the last of the late summer flowers, Red Clover and Queen Anne’s Lace, along its margins.

My path takes me from hill top to stream to wetland to hilltop.

It was a grand, first walk-out.

The art work is from pictures I captured this morning. In it my shadow is superimposed on red clover (an introduced fodder plant) in the field.

There is also a picture of the Chinese Chestnut at the hill top.

Wetland plants identification using https://plants.usda.gov/core/wetlandSearch

Water Stress

Where I live, we have been without appreciable rain for nearly two months.

My garden wilted. My flowers wilted. The leaves on the trees started dropping early. But I have no real problem. I may be concerned for my garden, but I can take a hose and water it. I could do the same for my flowers, but I know they will survive and will return when the rain comes back. And I am sure the rain will come back.

Where I live, when compared to other places, we are water rich. We have clean water that flows from our taps whenever we want it. Where I lived before was along a wide meandering river that flowed down from up-state. My water came from a well. In my current location, I have water from the city. Both of these areas may be considered water rich. But where I had a well, I had to work at it a bit and have the well drilled deeper. Why? Because the water level of the native aquifer was slowly but continually falling.

Why was it falling? Was there less rain? No. There was plenty of rain throughout the state and the region. In many instances, it seemed there was too much rain. So why was the level of the ground water aquifer falling? Because there were more people. There were more people upstream and all along the river’s banks. There were more people taking surface water and ground water for their personal use and for industrial use, and in my state for agricultural use. So the aquifer level was falling – and it continues to fall.

About every five years I would notice my pump was struggling to lift water up the well. I would need to call a well-driller and have my personal well drilled deeper and deeper. This was not a solution. If anything, I was exacerbating the problem.

In that state, along the Atlantic coast, the total population of 24 coastal counties grew between 2000 and 2007. Several of the counties lost population or had a low growth rate, but half of the coastal counties had a growth rate greater than 15%. All these new people and their jobs were using more and more water. The counties up river were experiencing even more growth. The metropolitan areas drew in more and more people. And they took their share of the surface water and the ground water.

But compared to many places in our country and around the World, these 24 coastal counties were water rich. Some of the population increase was due to people moving into the state from other states. Part of it was the growth of the existing population. Both of these trends continue. It can be seen even on the state level that the more people there are, the more water is needed.

When you look at the World, our nation as I have mentioned is water rich. The September 14, 2019 issue of Science News, including an article , “One in four people live in a place of high risk of running out of water”. The article highlighted a growing, World-wide water crisis. It discussed a series of tools used by the World Resources Institute to calculate what is considered a high level of “water stress”. The article states that the World’s use of water increased 150% from 1961 to 2014. In that same time frame the World Bank indicates that the World’s population has more than doubled, from 3.1 billion to 7.2 billion. At a glance it might appear that the World’s population has learned to reduce their water requirement. But in actuality it indicates, that overall, the World’s people have less access to water.

In a water rich country like the United States, this is not evident, unless you have a well that you have to push deeper every few years. But for many people in the World safe and adequate water supplies is an issue.

As the World population grows toward 8 Billion, this issue will get worse. New methods of water use that conserve water will be needed, and new sources of water, such as the salt filled oceans, will have to be tapped. This will require improved – or new – technologies to prepare the water for consumption, including desalination of ocean water, and new distribution processes to get the water to the people, the animals, and the crops that need it.

The picture of the map is taken directly from World Resources Institute, https://www.wri.org/aqueduct/ .

The Science News article may be found at, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/one-4-people-lives-place-high-risk-running-out-water .

Yellow – Rain

I have always thought that yellow was a good color for rain wear. It shows up!

On the most gloomy and rainy days you can see a person in a yellow rain coat even when they are a good distance off. A a recent study reported this week by several science news organizations that provides information related to another benefit.

In the recently published journal article, the authors describe their study in which they polled participants in 55 different countries. They present their findings that the color yellow can give rise to feelings of joy, a yellow-joy association. However, the level of rise of joy was found to be dependent on the climate and physical environment of the country. Less than 6% of the participates in Egypt found joy in yellow. The countries in which there were more sunny days did not rate high on a yellow-joy association. But in Finland where the weather is not as sunny, and clouds and fogs and plenty of snow all abound, the color yellow leads to expressions of joy in 88% of the participants.

The study not only investigated emotions related to yellow, the 6,625 participants across the 55 countries were asked to rate their emotional feelings of 12 colors. The countries in which the study was conducted span the globe and include all continents except Antarctica. The study is representative of many cultures and climatic conditions.

Of the twelve colors, only yellow could be specifically linked to an increase of emotions and be related to environmental conditions the participants found within their home country.

Across the full set of participants, the study found a yellow-joy association in over 48% of the participants. But as presented earlier the countries in which sunshine was prevalent had a lower association. In the countries where sunshine was less prevalent, there was significantly higher yellow-joy association.

When I was a child I had a long skirted yellow rain “slicker”. I remember enjoying rainy days because when I was outside I could enjoy the world in a different way. There were puddles to jump in. I could feel the rain being blown into my face. I could hear the wind blowing through the canopy of the trees. I not only enjoyed the experience, but according to the study my enjoyment may well have been enhanced due to the yellow slicker that I was wearing. The picture below is based on a drawing I made when I was a child. It provides an expression of my feelings at that time, in the rain.

Today, I have a yellow rain suit. Now there are streams in the woods that I enjoy forwarding. The grey skies to me mean that I can enjoy the natural aspects of the woodlands and fields, and still experience what is not an every-day occurrence. And wearing my yellow rain suit becomes an amusing experience for me – and perhaps for the squirrels too. The color yellow can make you happier. When the sky is grey and there’s a chance for being moody, put on yellow and enjoy the day.

The study by D. Jonauskaite (et. al.), The sun is no fun without rain: Physical environments affect how we feel about yellow across 55 countries, is published on-line in The Journal of Environmental Psychology, as a pre-proof edition.

Sweeping the Sky

This morning was a wonderful Fall morning. It was clear. It was cool. As the sun came up it burnished the tops of the trees down in the woods. Some high, thin clouds were out to greet the sun. And as they passed overhead they were swept by the top most branches on the sun-lit trees.

At least it appeared that way.

But these trees did not touch the clouds. As the clouds drifted by they only appeared to be swept by the upper branches. However, this is not always the case. On mornings when the day is foggy, the clouds can engulf and move through the trees, and the trees clear out lines in the fog.

But today it appeared that the trees might be touching the clouds. Yet this was only my perspective. In reality, the trees did not touch the clouds. They touched the sky.

The real effect of the trees extends way beyond their height.

The leaves on the trees are the main component in clearing the atmosphere of carbon dioxide (CO2). The leaves absorb the CO2 and use it in the photosynthesis process. Photosynthesis, roughly translated, means, made from light. The light provides the energy of the sun to the trees. The trees use the energy from the sun to change CO2, absorbed from the air, into glucose (C6H12O6) for the tree’s metabolism. Through photosynthesis the tree manufactures C6H12O6 to enhance its own growth. This process uses water (H2O) drawn up from the soil in which the trees roots are bound. From the process glucose is produced, as well as oxygen (O2). But more O2 is produced than the tree requires of its own use. The excess O2 is released back into the atmosphere. There the oxygen is available for our use with every breath we take, and for all other creatures. It is not only the trees that carry out photosynthesis but all plants with chlorophyll use this process to enhance their growth. And thereby they all release the excess O2 into the atmosphere.

The basic chemical reaction that takes place using the energy from the sun is shown as follows;

This is the respiration of trees. Through this process we are supplied with the oxygen that we need for life, to run our own metabolism, and by which we grow and succeed. This is true for birds, for creatures in the trees and creatures on the ground, and for fish in the sea. The trees support us all.

The pumping of O2 into the atmosphere can be seen on the Keeling Curve (see article dated 02/15/2019, the Keeling Curve). The level of CO2 is measured and shown on the curve as a saw tooth edge. The rise and fall of this saw toothed edge come about as the leaves on the trees open in the Spring, and the CO2 falls. Then when the leaves fall from the trees in Autumn, the CO2 rises.

The trees sweep up CO2 from our atmosphere and replace it with oxygen, O2.

The trees hold our atmosphere in place. They are “sky anchors” which bind the chemical makeup of the atmosphere close to the earth where we can all use it. We must treasure our trees and protect them.

However, as the world population soars, more land for farming is required, for both subsistence farming and large scale farming. The land is also required for living space. As whole forests are cut down and burned, each of us needs to work to replace the trees. The Nature Conservancy is leading a campaign called “Plant a Billion Trees”, https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/plant-a-billion/. Its goal is to stimulate reforestation. Large scale efforts like this and even individuals planting trees in their garden can ensure clean air for all of us. The trees are “sky anchors” that can hold the sky in place.

At’ta boy, Boaty

First of all – it’s good to be back. I apologize for the lengthy dry spell in my blogs, but it could not be helped (see blog post “Sorry-but there was an accident”, 6/29). I am glad to be back. And I am very glad that you are back reading my articles. I hope that my recovery will soon allow me to get back out to experience the joy of long hikes in the woods.

Recently, there have been numerous articles regrading Boaty McBoatface, and I want to salute the vessel, the drone, the scientists, and the findings.

First the vessel. You may remember in 2016 there was a public request by a British government bureau, the British Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), to submit names for a new scientific vessel. The vessel was a 425 foot (129 meter), $300 million ocean-going ice breaker and research vessel dedicated to the study of the oceans of the Antarctic regions.

I need to mention the importance of the protein provided by the oceans to the world’s population. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in 2014 “ten percent of the world’s population depends on fisheries for their livelihoods, and 4.3 billion people are reliant on fish for 15 percent of their animal protein intake.” [1] The oceans are an important resource and must be studied and protected.

The name for the vessel that the majority of people, those who visited the NERC website, recommended was Boaty McBoatface. I believe the world agreed it was a very funny, but a rather silly, name for a vessel of its size and importance.

The vessel, due to its expense and significance, was eventually named Royal Research Ship (RRS) David Attenborough after the famed broadcaster and natural historian. This name had also scored highly on the NERC website. But what then to do with that great and popular name of Boaty? The scientific community decided to use the name for a new and important drone vehicle. The new drone was planned for exploration of the oceans and specifically to collect data related to the temperature regions/levels of the ocean water surrounding Antarctica.

The new Boaty McBoatface submersible, is a research drone which can be launched and recovered from a larger research vessel. The submersible drone is a Autosub Long Range (ALR). Boaty McBoatface is the first of its class and is designated ALR-1. According to the NERC, the ALR submersibles can be at sea for weeks to months. This length of time and data gathering capability is far longer than research drones that are currently utilized by the NERC. Other autonomous vehicles of the Boaty class are planned for development, construction, and use for research of the Southern Ocean and perhaps others of the world’s seven seas.

ALR Boaty McBoatface, has been in the news recently for its data collection during its first scientific voyage. The data provides information regarding the effect of increasingly stronger winds on the rise of ocean surface water temperatures. This is one of the many feed-back loops related to global warming. According to an article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) [2], ALR-1 (Boaty), traveled 112 miles on its first voyage. Its path took it through high walled underwater valleys of the Orkney Passage in the depths of the Southern Ocean near Antarctica. The vessel measured temperature, salinity (saltiness), as well as the turbulence at different depths.

The findings of Boaty’s maiden voyage reveal how increasingly stronger winds on the surface of the Southern Ocean create turbulence deep under the surface. This turbulence results in a mixing of the warm water at the middle levels with the colder waters from the depths of the Southern Ocean. This mixing causes the temperature of the waters in the lower level to warm and move upward through the water column. This can be a significant factor in rising sea levels. As the warmer water raises the overall ocean temperature, the water tends to expand due to the warming and thus causes the sea level to rise. If the deep-water warming contributes to a warming of the ocean’s surface waters this may increase the rate of evaporation from the surface into the atmosphere which can contribute to more rain and snow inland and greater strength to ocean storms.

According to the PNAS article, the significance of the findings of this previously undocumented mixing mechanism of the overturning circulation in the Southern Ocean is a better understanding that the deep-ocean waters are rapidly laundered through intensified near-boundary turbulence and boundary–interior exchange. As the conditions triggering this mechanism are common to other branches of the overturning circulation, the findings highlight a requirement for representing the newly-understood circulation in computer models of the overturning in the Southern Ocean and its effect of rising ocean water temperatures.

Congratulations to Boaty and the entire research team.

The artwork for this blog post is based on Figure 2 of the PNAS article (graph (D) showing the potential vorticity in red and blue and the neutral density of the deep water shown by the black contour lines). The image of the ALR-1 is taken from the internet.

[1] http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/248479/icode/, Oceans crucial for our climate, food and nutrition

[2] Rapid mixing and exchange of deep-ocean waters in an abyssal boundary current, PNAS first published June 18, 2019 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1904087116

Permian Basin Texas

There are plenty of sights to see on the road through Texas. The country is starkly beautiful. It’s early Spring and some color is beginning to come to the grasses that line the roads and cover the fields. But one thing that I thought I would see, cattle, well I don’t see too many. But what I do see in the area around Midland Texas are pumps. I am driving through the area of the Permian Basin. Rank upon rank of oil pumps as far into the distance as I can see. If I use Google Earth I can see the area is covered with white specks. Each speck is an area around a pump or derrick where the grass has been beaten down and trucks are parked and various pieces of support equipment lay about. One thing of note is there are a lot of pickup trucks on the road and most are towing an open bed trailer. And they are all in a hurry. They are not being driven unsafely, just in a hurry. Out here time is truly money. it’s the ranks of pumps that draws my attention. As I drive down Interstate I-10 most of the pumps are nodding up and down driven by a massive cam and engine. Each one pulling crude oil out of the ground.

The Permian Basin contains more crude oil than any other location within the United States and is one of the great oil resources of the world.

Like it or not oil and gas extraction is part of our world. It drives industry. It enables us to get around. And this will continue until a different economically dependable energy source is developed. What is the good of extracting and burning the essence of years that passed millions of years ago? The resources that lie in the Permian Basin under Texas and New Mexico were lain in that place during the Permian age. This age preceded the time of the dinosaurs, and ended approximately 250 million years ago. Its end came with in a mass extinction of more than 90% of the species on earth. Then as the continents separated, the remnants of the age were overlain by the sediments of the following eras and were compressed onto the hydrocarbon slurry that is drilled for today.

That drilling provides jobs in Texas. The taxes derived from those jobs built the road I drove down. But the economic reach of the oil extracted from the Permian Basin extends well beyond to local area. It enables many American to drive and to produce and to build. It enables us to create and to sell. But this comes at a substantial price. The burning of the refined extract causes pollution in our neighborhoods and smog in our cities. It pollutes the air and dumps chemicals into the atmosphere. These chemicals included CO2 and other “greenhouse gases” which are causing global warming and causing the acidification of the oceans.

But today I see work and prosperity. I see people going to their jobs, being proud of the work they are doing, and doing good work. But beyond here, the same companies that are operating the wells and refining the oil into the world’s fuel, are also working on what may be “a different economically dependable energy source”, which may power people’s jobs and give them economic independence, and provide them with food, shelter, heathy lives, and pride in their existence.

All 8 Billion of us!

(*Just_a_Note) – Wallace Broecker

News sources around the world have reported the death of Wallace Broecker. As a climate scientist, he penned an article that was published in the journal Science in 1975. This article was among the early warning calls of the effect of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) to cause a rise in the global mean temperature. Dr. Broecker titled the article “Are we on the brink of a pronounced Global Warming”. Through his article, and many others that followed, the term “global warming” has come into common use and is readily understood by all to imply a continuing rise in the global temperature to the point that it has a detrimental effect on the oceans, wildlife, agriculture, and human society.

As Broecker stated in his 1975 article, “… the exponential rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide content will tend to become a significant factor and by early in the next century [the ‘next century’ started in 2000] will have driven the mean planetary temperature beyond the limits experienced during the last 1000 years.”

Further in the article Broecker predicted, “As the CO2 effect will dominate, the uncertainty … lies mainly in the estimates of future chemical fuel use and the magnitude of the warming per unit of excess atmospheric CO2.” When any of us is outside we can see and often smell the exhaust of the continuing use, and increased use, of fossil (chemical) fuels by the world’s expanding population.

So when in his article Broecker asks, “Are we in for a climate surprise?”, the answer is both yes and no. Yes, it is happening, CO2 continues to clog our atmosphere. But no, in 2019 it is not a surprise.

The 1975 article may be found at – https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu//files/2009/10/broeckerglobalwarming75.pdf

The picture is taken from the 1975 article.

CO2 – the Keeling Curve

Many things lie at the heart of climate change. Fundamental in this is global warming due to the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). The primary source of the CO2 is the consumption of fossil fuels by each and every one of us. We drive our cars, and CO2 is emitted in the exhaust. We turn on lights and use electricity generated from burning coal or gas. These methods of generating electricity result in the emission of CO2. These emissions have a direct effect on wildlife, the oceans, and the weather.

The mention of automobiles might put us in the mind that this problem only started since cars have been around. But it is not just the recent use of fossil fuels, we have been burning coal for a long time. Once emitted by burning of fossil fuels CO2 does not dissipated; it accumulates. Some of the CO2 may be taken up by trees and other plants in their respiration cycle. They take in CO2 and during photosynthesis the CO2 is converted into oxygen (O2). Carbon can be locked up in dead plant material too. When a tree falls in the forest its use is not over. There are kingdoms of plants and animals that will use the dead tree for food and homes in their own lives. As these plants and animals devour the now decomposing tree, they consume the carbon and lock it in their own bodies. But then as they die their carcasses, as small as they are, store some tiny bit of carbon to be released into the atmosphere and earth as the plants and creatures decompose into the earth. Over millions of years the decomposition of ancient organic matter, dead plants and animals, has produced the current fossil fuels that we use.

But how do we know that the level of atmospheric CO2 is increasing? First we can read the levels of atmospheric CO2 in ice cores. These cores are from specialized drills that penetrate deep into glaciers. When the core is drilled and extracted for examination, the levels of CO2 from past centuries can be measured. As the drill goes deeper and deeper into the glaciers the cores show what the atmosphere was like in the times past. The deeper the core is drilled, the further back in time the sample goes. When snow and ice accumulated on the surface of the glacier centuries ago it captured a signature of the gases that made up the atmosphere. From these cores the CO2 from ancient fires, and human use of wood and coal as a fuel, and emissions by ancient volcanoes can be studied. It has been established that accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere has been going on from preindustrial times, hundreds of years ago. Since the introduction of factories and industry that used fossil fuels to operate and manufacture goods, the CO2 in the atmosphere has increased at a higher rate.

A key tool in understanding the increase of CO2 in the atmosphere has been the work of Charles D. Keeling. In 1956 he began a program to measure atmospheric gases, including CO2, at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii. As these observations are plotted over time, they show an increasing level of CO2 with each passing year. The graph that shows this increase, known as the Keeling Curve, also shows the change of the seasons in the northern hemisphere. The upwards spikes of the saw-tooth curve indicate rising CO2 in the Winter months when the leaves are off the trees and are not converting CO2 into O2. The downward slope of each “tooth” indicates the activity of the trees and other plants in the growing seasons of Spring and Summer as they remove CO2 from the atmosphere and convert it into O2. But with each passing year the curve goes every upward.

From these two studies, we can determine that CO2 continues to increase based primarily on human activity. The rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere result in a continually rising average global temperature. This is due to the greenhouse effect as the CO2 and other gases trap energy from the sun in the atmosphere. The rising levels of CO2 also result in ocean acidification.

A copy is the Keeling Curve from the Scripps Institute CO2 program is inserted below.

The Scripps Institute CO2 program website may be found at http://scrippsco2.ucsd.edu/