FOSSIL FUELS, ENERGY, AND THE PERTURBED CARBON CYCLEfaculty.weber.edu/dbedford/classes/GEOG_1400/Power... · FOSSIL FUELS, ENERGY, AND THE PERTURBED CARBON CYCLE 1. Introduction 2

FOSSIL FUELS, ENERGY, AND THE PERTURBED CARBON CYCLE

1. Introduction

2. Why are they called fossil fuels?

3. Burning buried sunshine

4. Perturbing the carbon cycle

5. Welcome to the Anthropocene

“Climate’s always changed…” Because climate has changed naturally in the past,

humans cannot cause or contribute to climate change.

A LOGICAL FALLACY

Source: SkepticalScience.com.

ATMOSPHERE

BIOSPHERE

LITHOSPHERE

HYDROSPHERE

Photosynthesis Respiration

Volcanoes Chemical weathering

Degassing Mixing/dissolving

Magnitudes of flows and stores in the global carbon cycle.

Source: Archer, 2012, p. 92.



OCEANS LAND

ATMOSPHERE

SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

ATMOSPHERE

BIOSPHERE

LITHOSPHERE

HYDROSPHERE




Death, decomposition, fossilization

Burning fossil fuels



The global carbon cycle. Source: Rohli and Vega, 2008, p. 16.

TWO KEY LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS

1. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted.

2. Heat flows from where there is more to where there is less.

HOW DOES COAL EXEMPLIFY THE FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS?

HOW DOES COAL EXEMPLIFY THE FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS?

“Burning buried sunshine”

Dukes, J.S., 2003, Climatic Change vol. 61

OXIDIZED REDUCED vs.

CO2 CH4 Carbon dioxide Methane

CARBON TERMINOLOGY

See Archer, 2012, start of chapter 8.

C6H12O6 + 6 O2 glucose

RESPIRATION

6 CO2 + 6 H2O + energy

Respiration allows plants (and animals) to burn sugars for energy:

6 CO2 + 6 H2O + sunlight glucose

C6H12O6 + 6 O2


ENERGY SOURCES, GLOBAL AND SELECTED COUNTRIES

Fossil fuels

Use of energy sources in the U.S.

Source: Archer, 2012, p. 105; data from U.S. Energy Information Administration.






Trends in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration over the last 800,000 years.

Source: NOAA Earth Systems Research Laboratory, http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/history.html

Changes in carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, 10,000 years ago to 2005 AD.

Source: Houghton, 2009, p. 39.

Changes in atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide

Source: IPCC, 2001. See also Archer, 2012, p. 123.

Car

bo

n d

ioxi

de

con

cen

trat

ion

(p

pm

)

Years before present

Couldn’t this all be part of a natural cycle? Atmospheric CO2 recorded in the Vostok ice core, Antarctica.

Source: data from WDC Paleoclimatology.

HYPOTHESIS: The recent spike in CO2 is anthropogenic, not natural.

OR:

The recent spike in CO2 is natural, not anthropogenic.

WHAT EVIDENCE COULD WE LOOK FOR?

1. When did the spike begin?

About the same time as the Industrial Revolution

Changes in atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide

Source: IPCC, 2001. See also Archer, 2012, p. 123.



2. Is the recent CO2 spike outside the natural range?

YES

Car

bo

n d

ioxi

de

con

cen

trat

ion

(p

pm

)


Couldn’t this all be part of a natural cycle? Atmospheric CO2 recorded in the Vostok ice core, Antarctica, and measured at Mauna Loa, Hawaii.

Source: data from WDC Paleoclimatology and NOAA Mauna Loa CO2 records.

Trends in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration over the last 800,000 years.

Source: NOAA Earth Systems Research Laboratory, http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/history.html




YES 3. Do human activities produce enough CO2?

YES

Source: Gerlach, 2011, Volcanic versus anthropogenic carbon dioxide, Eos 92 (24)

How many more times CO2 do humans put into the atmosphere than volcanoes?

Humans emit about 130 times more CO2 per year than volcanoes do.

Source: SkepticalScience.com





YES 4. Is the chemistry consistent with fossil fuels?

YES

Schematic showing the structure of a carbon atom.

6 electrons (-)

Nucleus: 6 protons (+) 6, 7, or 8 neutrons

Atomic number = 6 Atomic mass (mass number) = 12, 13 or 14 (12C, 13C or 14C)

CARBON ISOTOPES Source: Houghton, 2009, p. 44.

Three isotopes of carbon: 1. Carbon-12 (12C) 98.9% 2. Carbon-13 (13C) 1.1% 3. Carbon-14 (14C) Teeny-tiny%

Radioactive: half-life 5730 years

Plants prefer 12C

“Burning buried sunshine” Dukes, J.S., 2003, Climatic Change vol. 61

12C 12C

12C

13C

13C

12C

14C

12C 12C 12C

12C

13C

12C 12C

WHAT CARBON ISOTOPES SHOULD YOU GET FROM…..

(a) Burning coal

(b) Forest fires

(c) Volcanoes

Lots of 12C, little/no 13C, no 14C.

Lots of 12C, a little 14C.

12C, 13C, no 14C.

Sources: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center and NOAA Earth Systems Research Laboratory

14C is declining relative to total atmospheric carbon.

Changes in carbon isotope ratios (13C to 12C) recorded in Caribbean sponge skeletons (CaCO3)

More 13C/Less 12C

Less 13C/More 12C Source: Böhm et al, 2002

12C is going up relative to total atmospheric C

Changes in isotopes of atmospheric carbon since 1800. Source: Mann and Kump, 2009, p. 35.





YES 4. Is the chemistry consistent with fossil fuels?

YES

Atmospheric CO2 concentration

(ppm)

Atmospheric O2 concentration

(parts per meg)

Measurements from Mauna Loa, Hawaii.

ATMOSPHERE

BIOSPHERE

LITHOSPHERE

HYDROSPHERE






ATMOSPHERE

BIOSPHERE

LITHOSPHERE

HYDROSPHERE






+8.5 Gt C/year

Deforestation+1.5 Gt C/year

Emissions vs. atmospheric concentration of CO2. Source: Mann and Kump, 2009, p. 94; see also Archer, 2012, p. 124-131.

ATMOSPHERE

BIOSPHERE

LITHOSPHERE

HYDROSPHERE






+8.5 Gt C/year


+10 Gt C/year

+4 Gt C/year

Source: Winner, 2011, The socioeconomic costs of ocean

acidification, Oceanus March 21 2011, available

http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewArticle.do?id=65266

The pH scale

Effects of elevated CO2 on marine organism calcification

Source: Ocean Acidification: An International Science Symposium Series, http://www.ocean-acidification.net/

Source: Feely et al., 2009, Oceanography vol. 22 pp. 36-47, cited in Winner, 2011, The socioeconomic costs of ocean acidification, Oceanus March 21 2011, available

http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/viewArticle.do?id=65266

Projected future ocean acidification

Saturation state of aragonite in the greater Caribbean region estimated from satellite observations

Source: Gledhill et al., 2009, Observing ocean acidification from space, Oceanography vol. 22 no. 4 pp. 48-59, available

http://www.tos.org/oceanography/issues/issue_archive/issue_pdfs/22_4/22-4_gledhill.pdf

Measurements of dissolved CO2 and pH from two sites in the Atlantic Ocean and one in the Pacific

Source: IPCC, 2013, Fifth Assessment Report Working Group I Summary for Policymakers, http://www.climatechange2013.org/images/report/WG1AR5_SPM_FINAL.pdf

ATMOSPHERE

BIOSPHERE

LITHOSPHERE

HYDROSPHERE






+8.5 Gt C/year


+10 Gt C/year

+4 Gt C/year

+4.0 Gt C/year


Tem

per

atu

re r

elat

ive

to p

rese

nt

(Cel

siu

s)

Pleistocene and Holocene

Source: drawn using Vostok ice core data first published by JR Petit, available from World Data Center for Paleoclimatology, http://hurricane.ncdc.noaa.gov/pls/paleo/ftpsearch.icecore

Pleistocene: from ~2.5 million to 10,000 years ago

Holocene: the last 10,000 years

COLD

WARM


Ce

ntr

al G

ree

nla

nd

tem

per

atu

re

(Cel

siu

s)

Pleistocene Holocene

Source: drawn using GISP2 ice core data first published by Richard Alley, available from World Data Center for Paleoclimatology, http://hurricane.ncdc.noaa.gov/pls/paleo/ftpsearch.icecore

Central Greenland temperature estimated from GISP 2 stable isotopes Anthropocene

Changes in carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere, 10,000 years ago to 2005 AD.

Source: Houghton, 2009, p. 39.

The Anthropocene: 1780s to present?

Source: IPCC, 2001. See also Archer, 2012.

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FOSSIL FUELS, ENERGY, AND THE PERTURBED CARBON CYCLEfaculty.weber.edu/dbedford/classes/GEOG_1400/Power... · FOSSIL FUELS, ENERGY, AND THE PERTURBED CARBON CYCLE 1. Introduction 2