CO2 and Global Temperature Long Term Relationship

If you too wonder why Co2 spikes lag temperature spikes by several hundred years, read the following and see the title link from which these quotes came:

"What is being talked about here is influence of the seasonal radiative forcing change from the earth’s wobble around the sun (the well established Milankovitch theory of ice ages), combined with the positive feedback of ice sheet albedo (less ice = less reflection of sunlight = warmer temperatures) and greenhouse gas concentrations (higher temperatures lead to more CO₂ leads to warmer temperatures)......... CO₂ might well be expected to lag temperature by about 1000 years, which is the timescale we expect from changes in ocean circulation and the strength of the “carbon pump” (i.e. marine biological photosynthesis) that transfers carbon from the atmosphere to the deep ocean."

For additional information from the IPCC.

Geoengineering - Brightening Ocean Clouds

From Mark Guenther's title-linked post: "Marine cloud brightening is one way to manage solar radiation; others include injecting sulfate particles into the stratosphere. [See my 2010 post, Geoengineering research, getting real]  Marine clouds cover roughly one-fifth of the earth’s surface, Latham told me, and they already play a role in keeping the earth cooler by reflecting the sun’s rays away from earth. If their surface area could be enlarge, they would be even stronger cooling agents."

John Latham is the scientist who first proposed this approach, and at 73, he is still very actively pursuing it. "Latham says his group has in mind a three-day experiment conducted over an area of about 100 square kilometers. Because of its limited size and scope, it would not affect the global climate, he said. It’s entirely unclear who, if anyone, has the authority to regulate such an experiment. And, in any event, Latham said his group won’t be ready to go forward for several years."

What, Latham was asked, needs to happen to get the U.S. Congress to take the climate crisis seriously?
“Major flooding in New York would probably focus the right attention,” he replied. “I don’t mean to be cynical about that. But Bangladesh could go under with a billion people, and I’m not sure that would provoke the wealthy countries to act.”

Melting Arctic and Global Warming

East coast of Greenland on April 14, 2010. Photo by Bill Fintel

The title link is to a Los Angeles Times article reporting on research studies published in the journal Nature Geoscience. The bottom line is that melting arctic sea ice, northern hemisphere glaciers and snow cover have a larger effect on global climate than previously calculated. From the article:

'The "albedo" effect, in which the blinding white cover reflects sunshine, has been calculated in numerous computer-generated climate models. But the new study goes beyond those theoretical calculations. Using field measurements and satellite observations, a team led by University of Michigan researcher Mark Flanner found that the warming effect of the loss of snow and ice is "substantially larger" than was predicted in the estimates of 18 climate models.'