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Old 12-03-2012, 03:14 PM   #188 (permalink)
TheEnemy
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard View Post
The study of the melting tundra I posted earlier indicates that this will contribute a HUGE amount of GCG - it will add ~39% to the total as we go, over the next several decades. Lots of methane and lots of carbon dioxide are already coming out of the decomposing organic material that used to be frozen. If there is no oxygen present when it breaks done, then we get methane, and if there is oxygen present we get carbon dioxide. The methane is at least 7X more insulating than carbon dioxide; though after a relatively short time (about 7 years?) the methane becomes carbon dioxide - which basically lasts "forever". The only way it is naturally sequestered (weathering?) it takes millions of years to go away.
So what concentration of CO2 do you think we will achieve before we stabilize?