Dr. Conca reports that for the first time since the climate debate began, a team of researchers led by the U.S. DOE Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory directly measured the contribution of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide to heating of the Earth. Of course, this will spark further debate and push-back from folks who really do not want climate change to be our fault. Those who do not believe the planet is warming at all, do not have to read any further.
Ever since we explored the planet Venus, with its thick atmosphere of CO2 that keeps its surface temperatures over 800 degrees F, we have been worried that the influence of atmospheric CO2 on the balance between incoming energy from the Sun and outgoing heat from the Earth the planet energy balance has been slowly tipping in favor of incoming energy from the Sun, exacerbating a normal warming trend. However, this effect has not been experimentally confirmed outside a laboratory or computer model, until now.
With the 2 trillion dollar in annual spending on fossil fuels and renewable energy, this is a very big deal. According to the team, the results confirm theoretical predictions of the atmospheric greenhouse effect due to anthropogenic emissions, and provide empirical evidence of how rising CO2 levels, mediated by temporal variations due to photosynthesis and respiration, are affecting the surface energy balance.
Lead author Daniel Feldman, said that numerous studies show rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations, but their study provides the critical link between those concentrations and the addition of energy to the system, or the greenhouse effect.
Admitting we have a problem is the first step. Now we need to wean us off our addiction to fossil fuel and transition to nuclear and alternative energy sources when proven to be economic and environmentally sound.
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