Simple logic shatters the myth of emissions impact

Figure 1. The Pacific Ocean extends around a third of the Earth’s circumference

(I have been asked to translate some posts into English, so here comes the one that I think has the most basic message: Believe in your own ability to think logically !)

Together, the oceans cover 71% of the Earth’s surface and they thus receive about 70% of the energy the Sun’s rays give us. The oceans reach depths down to 11 km with an average value of approx. 4.5 km. The high heat capacity of water gives them more than 99.9% of all capacity to store heat above the earth’s crust. Ocean currents move around the ener-gy from the Sun. The Gulf Stream gives us in Scandinavia a warmer climate than Alaska at the same latitude.

The surface Gulf Stream transports the heat of the equator north and is cooled on the way to become so cold in the Arctic that its water sinks to the bottom. Cold currents are formed there, which go towards the south. Similar currents form in all oceans, but their patterns are incompletely known. It is estimated that some currents take a thousand years to go around one revolution.

Climate change is highly dependent on what happens in the oceans.

We know for sure:

That the climate was very cold for several hundred years from the 16th century to 1850. This period we call the “Little Ice Age”, LIA. Of course it cooled most of the oceans’ water.

That subsequently a warming has taken place. This also applies to ocean water, but the process takes centuries to complete.

That the water’s ability to keep carbon dioxide dissolved decreases with rising tempe-rature. According to Henry’s Law, nature strives for a balance between the partial pressure of the gas above and below the surface. As the water is warmed, the partial pressure of the gas rises and the gas diffuses up into the atmosphere.

This explains . . .

. . . the steady rise we see in the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, see the post: “Vilseledd Regering om CCS” (Misled Government about CCS).

Our emissions. . .

. . . immediately raises the partial pressure above the surface. This reduces the pressure difference that drives the outgassing from the oceans. Immediately ! With the time horizon that applies to climate change, i.e. the year it takes for emissions in the Northern Hemi-sphere to reach the Southern Hemisphere.