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    Carbon Capture Vital

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    Appah Ernest Opoku

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    Carbon Capture Vital

    Uploaded by

    Appah Ernest Opoku
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    Carbon capture vital

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    Carbon Capture Vital

    Uploaded by

    Appah Ernest Opoku

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Regional change Extreme measures opty es Lett 34, 19708 2007) Humans are primarily responsible for the increase in extreme temperatures observed. ‘over the US continent since the 1950s, anew study shows. Although the ink between atmospheric CO, emissions from fossil-fuel burning and increased global average temperature is well established, ‘whether humans are influencing extreme ‘weather events such asheat waves, has remained something of a mystery Technology Carbon capture vital Geophys es. Lett, 84, L19703 (2007) Removal of carbon dioxide directly from the atmospheres essential for combating climate change, suggests a new study. Mest efforts to mitigate global warming focus on reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, ‘most notably CO,, But that in itsl! will not be enough, say scientists ‘A team led by Andrew Weaver at the University of Victoria in Canada used a well-tested climate model ofthe ‘oceans and atmosphere to simulate CO, emissions and global temperature over the next 500 years, They found that unless emissions are reduced by more than 40% over the next 40 years, the Earth will warm by more than 2°C this century, breaching the temperature threshold beyond which many scientists think there will be dangerous consequences. Even if (CO,emissions were stabilised to a tenth of current levels, temperatures would rise by ‘more than 2°C eventually. This suggests ‘that nothing short of active removal of CO, from the atmosphere is necessary to avoid ‘unmanageable warming. Capture and sequestration of CO, directly from the atmosphere isnot yet viable on alarge scale But this latest research suggests the need to develop Now, Gerald Meet! from the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Colorado and colleagnes have simulated the numberof frost deysand warm nights as well as growing season lengths ‘and heat-wwave intensty that would hhave occureed inthe US throughout the torentieth century both with and without ‘human greenhouse-gss emissions. Using climate simulations with human and natural factors separately, they found thatonly by includinghuman-generated ‘emissions could the model results match the observed trends of fewer frost days, more warm nights, greater heat-wave intensity and longer growing seasons since the 1970s Extreme weather vents ave the _greatest potential to cause climate-related damage. This study is just one ofa number toshow the influence o human activity on temperature extremesregionally. ‘Alex Thompson antficial carbon sequestration methods, and fast ‘Alex Thompson Technology Nature's cure Environ. St Tach. i 10.1021/e30701816,2007) Scientists have proposed a novel approach to removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere based on the Earths natural ‘weathering process, Notonly could the technology mitigate ghbsl warming, it could also counteract continued acidification of the ‘ocean, which threatens marine ie The technology, rvented by Kurt Zen House, a PhD candidate at Harvares Departmen: of Earth and Planetary Scences, and co-workers involves electrochemically removing hydrochloric acid from the ocean, neutralizing it by reaction with silicate rocks and returning itto thesea By increasing ocean alkalinity, the process would enhance the absorption ‘of atmospheric CO, Overtime, the CO, would mix throughout the acean and eventually preipitateas calcium carbonate inocean sediments, This method of carbon capture and storage could effectively transfer from the atmosphere tothe ocean for Ibundreds of years cr longer. And unlike natural chemical weathering, in which weak carbemicactd lowly dissolves silicate rock, this process uses concentrated hydrochloric acid to dissolve silicate thus accelerating the pace to instead rates. ‘But the scientists acknowledge that oflsettingeven around 15% of global agreenhouse-gasemissions would be aaconsiderable task. They say that implementation ofthe technology would beambitiousand costly, and could have ‘unknown environmental sks of ts own, Olive Heffernan Society Unequal impacts 5 EeoHeah do 10.1007/810989-007-0141-1(2007) The health burden of climate change will be greatest among those who have contributed Teast to the problem, finds a stay that {quantifies the growing ethical crises of lobal warming. Ted by environmental public-health researcher Jonathan Patz ofthe University ‘of Wisconsin, Madison, the study compared per capita carbon dioxide emissions With the regional distribution of four climate-senstive health effects: malaria, ‘malnutrition, diarrhoea and inland flood: related fatalities. Overall, the researchers founda striking disparity between countries with the highest emissions and those with the highest disease burden. For example, per capita CO, emissions of the US are Six times greater than the average among. nations, yet the US also has a significanlly lower disease busden than developing nations, some of which have per capita ‘emissions 30-foldless than those of the US. ‘Notably, the study highlights that 88% ofthe disease burden attributable to climate change affects children less than five years old, who are a ‘non-consenting part ofthe population. The inequity of imate change further extends to some of the proposed solutions; the scientists cantion that biofuels for example, could worsen the health impacts of climate change by competing with food crops forland and rainforests for biodiversity conservation in developing nations. Olive Heffernan Climate impacts Floods in a flash Geophys. Res, Lett 34,121503 (2007) Glacier lakes bounded by natural ice dams can empty suddenly, causing massive flooding, The floods, which empty along subglacial paths and areknown as jokulhleups, can be very large and last from {days to weeks, Predicting the timing and the peak flow ofthese loods has proven difficult, but now researchers have found that their ‘occurrences linked to ale temperature Felix Ng from the University of Sheffield and colleagues have used thermochemical models to study 39 ofthese events at Merabacher Lake in the Kyrgyz Republic, alake that completely emptieseach time it foods. They found thatthe maximum flow of water out of the lakes greater when the ait is warmer owing tothe faster rate at which meltwater enters the lake Air temperature also controls the timeit takes the ake to refill and therefore influences the timingofthe next lood, Asair temperatures inerease with climate change, glacier lake outburst floods may become more hazardous the researchers warn. However itis also possible that the {iming of floods will shift o cooler months asthe dimate warms, otha the lakes may become smalleras glaciers thin, ‘Alex Thompson atc port late hang YOL RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Cryosphere The big melt Geophys es Lett 34,1505 (2007) (pen ocean waters absorb almost ten times more solar radiation than sea {ce —a phenomenon

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