Does carbon dioxide contribute to warming in a closed environment?

1. Increased atmospheric CO(2)-concentration is widely being considered as the main

driving factor that causes the phenomenon of global warming. This paper attempts to shed
more light on the role of atmospheric CO(2) in relation to temperature-increase and, more
generally, in relation to Earth's life through the geological aeons, based on a review-
assessment of existing related studies. It is pointed out that there has been a debate on the
accuracy of temperature reconstructions as well as on the exact impact that CO(2) has on
global warming. Moreover, using three independent sets of data (collected from ice-cores
and chemistry) we perform a specific regression analysis which concludes that forecasts
about the correlation between CO(2)-concentration and temperature rely heavily on the
choice of data used, and one cannot be positive that indeed such a correlation exists (for
chemistry data) or even, if existing (for ice-cores data), whether it leads to a "severe" or a
"gentle" global warming. A very recent development on the greenhouse phenomenon is a
validated adiabatic model, based on laws of physics, forecasting a maximum temperature-
increase of 0.01-0.03 degrees C for a value doubling the present concentration of
atmospheric CO(2). Through a further review of related studies and facts from disciplines
like biology and geology, where CO(2)-change is viewed from a different perspective, it is
suggested that CO(2)-change is not necessarily always a negative factor for the
environment. In fact it is shown that CO(2)-increase has stimulated the growth of plants,
while the CO(2)-change history has altered the physiology of plants. Moreover, data from
palaeoclimatology show that the CO(2)-content in the atmosphere is at a minimum in this
geological aeon. Finally it is stressed that the understanding of the functioning of Earth's
complex climate system (especially for water, solar radiation and so forth) is still poor and,
hence, scientific knowledge is not at a level to give definite and precise answers for the
causes of global warming.

2. The severity of damaging human-induced climate change depends not only on the
magnitude of the change but also on the potential for irreversibility. This paper
shows that the climate change that takes place due to increases in carbon dioxide
concentration is largely irreversible for 1,000 years after emissions stop. Following
cessation of emissions, removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide decreases radiative
forcing, but is largely compensated by slower loss of heat to the ocean, so that
atmospheric temperatures do not drop significantly for at least 1,000 years. Among
illustrative irreversible impacts that should be expected if atmospheric carbon
dioxide concentrations increase from current levels near 385 parts per million by
volume (ppmv) to a peak of 450–600 ppmv over the coming century are irreversible
dry-season rainfall reductions in several regions comparable to those of the “dust
bowl” era and inexorable sea level rise. Thermal expansion of the warming ocean
provides a conservative lower limit to irreversible global average sea level rise of at
least 0.4–1.0 m if 21st century CO2 concentrations exceed 600 ppmv and 0.6–1.9 m
for peak CO2 concentrations exceeding ≈1,000 ppmv. Additional contributions from
glaciers and ice sheet contributions to future sea level rise are uncertain but may
equal or exceed several meters over the next millennium or longer.
 dangerous interference

 precipitation

 sea level rise

 warming

3. This paper provides a literature study of the observations on temperature changes and the
accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It investigates the cause-effect relationship
between these parameters, and makes an alternative interpretation to that given by the UN
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

4.Climate warming during the course of the twenty-first century is

projected to be between 1.0 and 3.7 °C depending on future
greenhouse gas emissions, based on the ensemble-mean results of
state-of-the-art Earth System Models (ESMs). Just how reliable are
these projections, given the complexity of the climate system? The
early history of climate research provides insight into the
understanding and science needed to answer this question. We
examine the mathematical quantifications of planetary energy budget
developed by Svante Arrhenius (1859–1927) and Guy Stewart
Callendar (1898–1964) and construct an empirical approximation of
the latter, which we show to be successful at retrospectively predicting
global warming over the course of the twentieth century. This
approximation is then used to calculate warming in response to
increasing atmospheric greenhouse gases during the twenty-first
century, projecting a temperature increase at the lower bound of
results generated by an ensemble of ESMs (as presented in the latest
assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). This
result can be interpreted as follows. The climate system is conceptually
complex but has at its heart the physical laws of radiative transfer.
This basic, or “core” physics is relatively straightforward to compute
mathematically, as exemplified by Callendar's calculations, leading to
quantitatively robust projections of baseline warming. The ESMs
include not only the physical core but also climate feedbacks that
introduce uncertainty into the projections in terms of magnitude, but
not sign: positive (amplification of warming). As such, the projections
of end-of-century global warming by ESMs are fundamentally
trustworthy: quantitatively robust baseline warming based on the
well-understood physics of radiative transfer, with extra warming due
to climate feedbacks. These projections thus provide a compelling case
that global climate will continue to undergo significant warming in
response to ongoing emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases to
the atmosphere.

Keywords
Greenhouse effect
Global warming
Earth System Models
Arrhenius
Callendar

5. The authors evaluate the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on

Climate Change (IPCC) consensus that the increase of carbon dioxide in the
Earth’s atmosphere is of anthropogenic origin and is causing dangerous
global warming, climate change and climate disruption. The totality of the data
available on which that theory is based is evaluated. The data include: (a)
Vostok ice-core measurements; (b) accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere;
(c) studies of temperature changes that precede CO2 changes; (d) global
temperature trends; (e) current ratio of carbon isotopes in the atmosphere; (f)
satellite data for the geographic distribution of atmospheric CO2; (g) effect of
solar activity on cosmic rays and cloud cover. Nothing in the data supports the
supposition that atmospheric CO2 is a driver of weather or climate, or that
human emissions control atmospheric CO2.

Keywords IPCC paradigm, atmospheric CO2, human emission, atmospheric

temperatures, ice core data, satellite data

6. Researchershave quantified the contributions of industrialized and

developing nations’ historical emissions to global surface temperature
rise. Recent findings that nearly two-thirds of total industrial CO 2 and
CH4 emissions can be traced to 90 major industrial carbon producers
have drawn attention to their potential climate responsibilities. Here,
we use a simple climate model to quantify the contribution of
historical (1880–2010) and recent (1980–2010) emissions traced to
these producers to the historical rise in global atmospheric CO 2,
surface temperature, and sea level. Emissions traced to these 90
carbon producers contributed ∼57% of the observed rise in
atmospheric CO2, ∼42–50% of the rise in global mean surface
temperature (GMST), and ∼26–32% of global sea level (GSL) rise over
the historical period and ∼43% (atmospheric CO2), ∼29–35% (GMST),
and ∼11–14% (GSL) since 1980 (based on best-estimate parameters
and accounting for uncertainty arising from the lack of data on aerosol
forcings traced to producers). Emissions traced to seven investor-
owned and seven majority state-owned carbon producers were
consistently among the top 20 largest individual company
contributors to each global impact across both time periods. This
study lays the groundwork for tracing emissions sourced from
industrial carbon producers to specific climate impacts and furthers
scientific and policy consideration of their historical responsibilities
for climate change.
7. In the 19th century, scientists realized that gases in the atmosphere cause a
"greenhouse effect" which affects the planet's temperature. These scientists were
interested chiefly in the possibility that a lower level of carbon dioxide gas might
explain the ice ages of the distant past. At the turn of the century, Svante Arrhenius
calculated that emissions from human industry might someday bring a global
warming. Other scientists dismissed his idea as faulty. In 1938, G.S. Callendar argued
that the level of carbon dioxide was climbing and raising global temperature, but
most scientists found his arguments implausible. It was almost by chance that a few
researchers in the 1950s discovered that global warming truly was possible. In the
early 1960s, C.D. Keeling measured the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere: it
was rising fast. Researchers began to take an interest, struggling to understand how
the level of carbon dioxide had changed in the past, and how the level was influenced
by chemical and biological forces. They found that the gas plays a crucial role in
climate change, so that the rising level could gravely affect our future. (This essay
covers only developments relating directly to carbon dioxide, with a separate essay
for Other Greenhouse Gases. Theories are discussed in the essay on Simple Models
of Climate.)

8. It is known that carbon dioxide emissions cause the Earth to warm, but no
previous study has focused on examining how long it takes to reach maximum
warming following a particular CO2 emission. Using conjoined results of
carbon-cycle and physical-climate model intercomparison projects (Taylor et
al 2012, Joos et al 2013), we find the median time between an emission and
maximum warming is 10.1 years, with a 90% probability range of 6.6–30.7
years. We evaluate uncertainties in timing and amount of warming,
partitioning them into three contributing factors: carbon cycle, climate
sensitivity and ocean thermal inertia. If uncertainty in any one factor is reduced
to zero without reducing uncertainty in the other factors, the majority of
overall uncertainty remains. Thus, narrowing uncertainty in century-scale
warming depends on narrowing uncertainty in all contributing factors. Our
results indicate that benefit from avoided climate damage from avoided
CO2 emissions will be manifested within the lifetimes of people who acted to
avoid that emission. While such avoidance could be expected to benefit future
generations, there is potential for emissions avoidance to provide substantial
benefit to current generations.

9. The concentration of nitrogen (N) in vegetative tissues is largely dependent on the balance among
growth, root N uptake, and N assimilation. Elevated CO 2 (eCO2) plus warming is likely to affect the
vegetative-tissue N and protein concentration of wheat by altering N metabolism, but this is poorly
understood. To investigate this, spring wheat (Triticum aestivum) was grown for three weeks at two levels
of CO2 (400 or 700 ppm) and two temperature regimes (26/21 or 31/26 °C, day/night). Plant dry mass,
plant %N, protein concentrations, NO3− and NH4+ root uptake rates (using 15NO3 or 15NH4), and whole-
plant N- and NO3--assimilation were measured. Plant growth, %N, protein concentration, and root N-
uptake rate were each significantly affected only by CO 2, while N- and NO3−-assimilation were significantly
affected only by temperature. However, plants grown at eCO 2 plus warming had the lowest
concentrations of N and protein. These results suggest that one strategy breeding programs can
implement to minimize the negative effects of eCO2 and warming on wheat tissue N would be to target the
maintenance of root N uptake rate at eCO2 and N assimilation at higher growth temperatures. View Full-
Text

Keywords:  climate change; elevated CO2; warming; heat stress; nitrogen metabolism; N uptake; N

assimilation; 15N tracer; Triticum; wheat

10. Global warming is the result of the amplification of a natural

process occurring in the atmosphere called the Greenhouse Effect.
This amplification is caused by the addition of a range of gases to the
atmosphere as a result of domestic and industrial activity. The main
culprits are carbon dioxide and methane. The concentration of carbon
dioxide has been increasing since the middle of the 18th century, and
this is associated with two factors, changes in land use and the burning
of fossil fuels. The global warming that is affecting the world today can
be traced back to this period too. In 2015 around 90% of the carbon
dioxide released into the atmosphere came from fossil fuels. Coal
accounts for most of this.

Keywords
Global warming
carbon dioxide
methane
Greenhouse effect
carbon cycle
fossil fuels
coal
natural gas

11. Effects on the global temperature of large increases in carbon dioxide and
aerosol densities in the atmosphere of Earth have been computed. It is found
that, although the addition of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere does increase
the surface temperature, the rate of temperature increase diminishes with
increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. For aerosols, however, the net
effect of increase in density is to reduce the surface temperature of Earth.
Because of the exponential dependence of the backscattering, the rate of
temperature decrease is augmented with increasing aerosol content. An
increase by only a factor of 4 in global aerosol background concentration may
be sufficient to reduce the surface temperature by as much as 3.5 ° K. If
sustained over a period of several years, such a temperature decrease over
the whole globe is believed to be sufficient to trigger an ice age.