Is the greenhouse effect not for that?

1998/12/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ingurumena

The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is increasing much slower than announced by the IPCC. The news is good on the one hand, but not on the other, because if we cannot predict the future situation, it will hardly be accepted at the international level an agreement that limits the emissions of these gases. And today science cannot make concrete predictions about future global warming, because we still know very little about some of the factors involved in this process.

In contrast to the above, it seems that in the next 50 years the amount of CO2 available in the atmosphere will not be doubled (which would mean a temperature increase between 1.5 and 4.5°C), since it will take 50 and 100 years. It is true that between 1950 and 1975 the concentration of these gases increased rapidly, but since then it has been greatly reduced. However, CO2 emissions have increased. Where then is that carbon monoxide if not in the atmosphere? There are several hypotheses: it is thought that it is accumulating in the seas, or perhaps in the trees.

But no one knows if that slow growth is going to continue, will live or be reduced. Another important greenhouse gas is methane, whose growth has slowed further. To learn more about this complicated problem, it is necessary to wait for the OSE (Earth Observing System), which is preparing NASA, to launch specialized satellites.