Limnic eruption of world’s oceans

Limnic eruption of world’s oceans - or Something new to worry about.

First: The mechanism for the variability of CO2 in the Earth’s
Atmosphere: A Simplified Explanation.

When the top is removed from a bottle of carbonated water the
resulting pressure drop causes the dissolved CO2 to come out of
solution. If that solution is then warmed then even more CO2 will come
out of solution. This is the most basic reason for the changes of CO2
in the Earth’s atmosphere.

CO2 will dissolve in sea water and rain water and the resultant
solution is heavier than pure water. Therefore the sea contains most
of the planet’s CO2 gas as a solution. Deeper down in the Oceans the
pressure increases and like the soda water it can dissolve more and
more CO2.

Climate swings have brought great CO2 pulses up from the deep sea

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-05/teia-csh051107.php

The volcanic activity of hydrothermal vents, such as those in the mid
Atlantic ridge and in the Mariana Arc (Mariana Trench) over millions
of years, suggests that much of the world’s oceans are saturated with
carbon dioxide. One such submarine volcano, Eifuku, is nicknamed
Champagne due to the presence of liquid carbon dioxide in its
discharge.

Submarine venting of liquid carbon dioxide on a Mariana Arc volcano:

http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/publications/search_abstract.php?fmContributionNum=2843

“Limnic eruptions occasional occur in fresh water lakes linked to
volcanic regions. This is a rare type of natural disaster in which
carbon dioxide suddenly erupts from deep lake water, suffocating
wildlife, livestock and humans."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limnic_eruption

Thus the seas, lakes and atmosphere form storage reservoirs for carbon
dioxide.

“However, scientists have known for some time that the gas also goes
through natural cycles. By far most of the world’s mobile carbon is
stored in the oceans — 40 trillion metric tons, or 15 times more than
in air, soil and water combined. But how this vast marine reservoir
interacts with the atmosphere has been a subject of debate for the
last 25 years.”

Some oceanic areas can therefore act like the caped bottle of
carbonated water, with the atmosphere above. The quantity of carbon
dioxide in atmosphere depends to a large extent upon the temperature
of the water and the atmospheric pressure.

Ernst-Georg Beck has made a detailed study of historic records of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. He presented a paper at a Geo-
Ecological Seminar at the University of Bayreuth on the 17th July 2008
titled: “Evidence of variability of atmospheric carbon dioxide
concentration during the 20th century”
He found that carbon dioxide in the Northern hemisphere reached a peak
of 400ppm in 1942. This peak has a strong correlation with the arctic
sea surface temperature but has absolutely no correlation with the ice
core samples from the Law Dome the subject of the paper “Historical
Carbon Dioxide Records from the Law Dome” published by D.M. Etheridge,
L.P. Steele, R.L. Langenfelds and R.J. Francey. Most important he
considers that he has found a 65 year climate cycle.

Ernst-Georg Beck’s data shows that atmospheric levels of carbon
dioxide follow global observed temperature changes and do not precede
them. There is an approximate 5 year time lag between the increase in
ocean surface temperature and the corresponding increase of carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere.

http://www.biokurs.de/treibhaus/180CO2_supp.htm

So the quantity of CO2 in the atmosphere is related to Ocean
temperature.

Misleading data:-

The paper “Historical CO2 Records from the Law Dome DE08, DE08-2, and
DSS Ice Cores” published by CDIAC the Carbon Dioxide Information
Analysis Center which includes the World Data Center for Atmospheric
Trace Gases, has served as the primary climate-change data and
information analysis centre of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
since 1982.

http://cdiac.ornl.gov/trends/co2/lawdome.html

“The Law Dome ice core CO2 records show major growth in atmospheric
CO2 levels over the industrial period, except during 1935-1945 A.D.
when levels stabilized or decreased slightly.”

During this period their readings were 310 ppm whereas measurements
quoted by Ernst-Georg Beck show a peak increasing from 308 rising to
412 ppm and down again over the years 1930 through 1960.

So the data unearthed by Ernst-Georg Beck is completely opposite to
that obtained from the ice core samples.
The data from the Law Dome has in turn been questioned by Zbigniew
Jaworowski, M.D., Ph.D., and D.Sc. in his paper “CO2: The Greatest
Scientific Scandal of Our Time”

http://www.warwickhughes.com/icecore/zjmar07.pdf

As we now entered a period of Global Cooling we have something new to
worry about:-

On two occasions; 250 million and 180 million years ago there were
sudden increases of atmospheric CO2 to 3,000 ppm.

Could we expect a Limnic eruption of world’s oceans at any time?

World consumption of Crude oil has increased from 75,000 to 85,000
barrels per day over the over the last 10 years. If say 50,000 barrels
per day has been burnt over the last 100 years – Where is the CO2 now?
.