General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOne small positive note - CO2 emissions are way way down!
My primary entertainment during this down time is going to be biking. During the winter in Michigan I do spin classes indoors but right now my fitness center is closed. My goal is to use my bike outdoors for a much as I can. Zero carbon emissions (except for breath) for the rest of March!
The global drop in CO2 is not observable in the Mauna Loa data yet but I suspect within a month it will be. Here's hoping we can gain some time in our hopes to stay below 450 ppm by 2050!
https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/weekly.html
not_the_one
(2,227 posts)This little side trip into possible extinction may PROVE that man is causing climate change. The "doubters" KNOW the cause, but are making too much $$$, or are too invested in hating the "other", to give a shit.
While we are all sitting at home we are using a LOT less energy, generated by oil and coal powered plants. It will result in noticeable and measurable reductions in CO2 release.
The problem is, as soon as we possible can, we will resume the descent, with increased gusto.
Demsrule86
(68,552 posts)snort
(2,334 posts)but I am afraid I will go happily zipping along, lungs bellowing, right past somebody getting out of their car or standing on the sidewalk having themselves a coughing fit. So I am sticking to lifting weights in the house for now.
Igel
(35,300 posts)It should show a drop in the rate of increase of CO2 concentrations.
But since the rate of increase is very small, it'll be hard to tease that difference out from the seasonal noise over just a couple of months.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,307 posts)The seasonal variation you see is to do with the plant uptake during the year, and the relative differences between northern and southern hemispheres of land and sea.
May is the turning point between all the decomposition throughout the winter months and the burst of photosynthesis that occurs with the return of leaves to the trees in spring. CO2 measurements all over the globe reflect this pattern of peak CO2 concentration occurring each May, regardless of the level of that peak. Atmospheric CO2 has reached daily peaks of 400 parts per million for the first time this year as a result of the upward trend in CO2 overall, and the first monthly peak will likely occur in May.
While it is spring and summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is fall and winter in the Southern Hemisphere, so why dont these signals of photosynthesis and respiration cancel one another out? For one thing, the mixing between the hemispheres is too slow for there to be much interaction between their two cycles. It takes roughly a year for the air to mix between the Northern and Southern hemispheres. The mixing within each hemisphere, in contrast is only weeks to months. This is why a similar cycle is seen at all our Northern Hemisphere observing stations regardless of their latitude. There is a much larger amount of land in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly with huge forested areas in Siberia, while the Southern Hemisphere is dominated by ocean, but because of the slow mixing, even if there were as much land in the south, the Mauna Loa cycle wouldnt look very different.
https://scripps.ucsd.edu/programs/keelingcurve/2013/06/04/why-does-atmospheric-co2-peak-in-may/
That will continue as before; on top of that, we may make a decrease in the annual man-made input. That will take months before it's visible against the yearly cycle (and how much our emissions are down is yet to be seen; we're still heating homes, and some workplaces, and there's some travel going on; and air conditioning will still get turned on soon in some northern hemisphere locations).