
Figure 1. The Pacific Ocean extends around a third of the Earth’s circumference
The oceans make up 71% of the Earth’s total area, and receive a corresponding share of the warm solar radiation.
Carbon dioxide, CO₂, is transmitted up and down through the water surface according to Henry’s Law of Nature:
The transmission of a gas through a water surface is determined by the difference between the partial pressures of the gas above and below the surface.
Nature strives to balance the partial pressures of the gas above and below the water surface, what forces gas up or down. Due to the very low concentration, only 0,004 per cent in the air, this process is slow.
This is the trivial misunderstanding: The transmission is slow counted per square meter of contact area, but the latter is increased by waves, spray and foam caused by winds.

Figure 2. Waves, sizzling spray and foam increase the contact area between air and sea
The surface area for contact is increased, probably by a couple of tenth powers, almost to infinity. The contact between air and water may be so large that their stocks of carbon dioxide, CO₂, may be considered common between them.
Then the water surface is not a barrirer to exchange of gases between air and sea. It is rather an open door.
A hypothesis by Sture Åström, secretary of our network
The stock of CO₂ is common for Seas and Atmosphere
The stock in the oceans is estimated to be 40 times that in the air. Human emissions thus mainly go down into the oceans and only an one-fortieth goes into the air. But that part raises the partial pressure above the surface, which is immediately neutralized by a corresponding lowering of the pressure in the water.
Thus, anthropogenic emissions do not affect the concentration in the air:
Above the surface of the seas, the pressure is solely determined by the concentration, whilst below the surface it rises with temperature. Last century’s constantly rising concentration in the air hence is due to the slow warming of the oceans.
Human emissions do not affect the content of CO₂ in the air
The conclusion is clear: Our emissions of CO₂ do not affect the content in the air. The emissions CANNOT affect the climate, whether one believes that CO₂ has such an effect or not.
This makes “climate policy” to reduce emissions TOTALLY POINTLESS. We can drive, fly and burn coal and oil with a clear conscience.
The rising levels of CO₂ over the past 70 years have been beneficial to all of humanity: It has contributed to dramatically increased harvests that have almost eliminated hunger. Extreme poverty has been reduced from 75 % of the world’s population in 1950 to 10 % in 2015, according to the World Bank.
CO₂ is the prerequisite for life itself
In the photosynthesis the Sun’s rays transform CO₂ to plant tissue and oxygen, which is vital for animal life. All life.
A “hypothesis” based on experience, logic and a guess
How have I arrived at the conclusion of CO₂ stocks being common to air and sea ?
Well, I have 40 years of experience from industrial plants for heat exchange, primarily refrigeration. I have seen how efficient the heat transfer is when warm water is sprayed into a flow of cold air with nozzles that produce a mist of very small droplets. These have an extremely high ratio of surface area to weight.
However, I have found no reports on the practical surface contact area of sea water. I expect it to be quite impossible to find a value based on measurements, because conditions are so widely variable in time and space. And the globe is so large. So I am relying on my guess.
It seems to me that climate scientists are exemplifying the old saying: They missed the forest for all the trees in sight.
Every hypothesis is based on a guess. I can therefore call my guess a hypothesis. As such I expect it to be taken seriously until proven false.
Sture Åström, M.Sc.
Secretary of the network Klimatsans, Climate Sense, Sweden
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