Late Miocene decoupling of oceanic warmth and atmospheric carbon dioxide forcing

Deep-time palaeoclimate studies are vitally important for developing a complete understanding of climate responses to changes in the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration (that is, the atmospheric partial pressure of CO(2), p(co(2))). Although past studies have explored these responses during portions of the Cenozoic era (the most recent 65.5 million years (Myr) of Earth history), comparatively little is known about the climate of the late Miocene (～12-5 Myr ago), an interval with p(co(2)) values of only 200-350?parts per million by volume but nearly ice-free conditions in the Northern Hemisphere and warmer-than-modern temperatures on the continents. Here we present quantitative geochemical sea surface temperature estimates from the Miocene mid-latitude North Pacific Ocean, and show that oceanic warmth persisted throughout the interval of low p(co(2)) ～12-5 Myr ago. We also present new stable isotope measurements from the western equatorial Pacific that, in conjunction with previously published data, reveal a long-term trend of thermocline shoaling in the equatorial Pacific since ～13?Myr ago. We propose that a relatively deep global thermocline, reductions in low-latitude gradients in sea surface temperature, and cloud and water vapour feedbacks may help to explain the warmth of the late Miocene. Additional shoaling of the thermocline after 5?Myr ago probably explains the stronger coupling between p(co(2)), sea surface temperatures and climate that is characteristic of the more recent Pliocene and Pleistocene epochs.     

Glacial/interglacial variations in atmospheric carbon dioxide

Twenty years ago, measurements on ice cores showed that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was lower during ice ages than it is today. As yet, there is no broadly accepted explanation for this difference. Current investigations focus on the ocean's 'biological pump', the sequestration of carbon in the ocean interior by the rain of organic carbon out of the surface ocean, and its effect on the burial of calcium carbonate in marine sediments. Some researchers surmise that the whole-ocean reservoir of algal nutrients was larger during glacial times, strengthening the biological pump at low latitudes, where these nutrients are currently limiting. Others propose that the biological pump was more efficient during glacial times because of more complete utilization of nutrients at high latitudes, where much of the nutrient supply currently goes unused. We present a version of the latter hypothesis that focuses on the open ocean surrounding Antarctica, involving both the biology and physics of that region.     

A 300-million-year record of atmospheric carbon dioxide from fossil plant cuticles

To understand better the link between atmospheric CO2 concentrations and climate over geological time, records of past CO2 are reconstructed from geochemical proxies. Although these records have provided us with a broad picture of CO2 variation throughout the Phanerozoic eon (the past 544 Myr), inconsistencies and gaps remain that still need to be resolved. Here I present a continuous 300-Myr record of stomatal abundance from fossil leaves of four genera of plants that are closely related to the present-day Ginkgo tree. Using the known relationship between leaf stomatal abundance and growing season CO2 concentrations, I reconstruct past atmospheric CO2 concentrations. For the past 300 Myr, only two intervals of low CO2 (<1,000 p.p.m.v.) are inferred, both of which coincide with known ice ages in Neogene (1-8 Myr) and early Permian (275-290 Myr) times. But for most of the Mesozoic era (65-250 Myr), CO2 levels were high (1,000-2,000 p.p.m.v.), with transient excursions to even higher CO2 (>2,000 p.p.m.v.) concentrations. These results are consistent with some reconstructions of past CO2 (refs 1, 2) and palaeotemperature records, but suggest that CO2 reconstructions based on carbon isotope proxies may be compromised by episodic outbursts of isotopically light methane. These results support the role of water vapour, methane and CO2 in greenhouse climate warming over the past 300 Myr.     

A lower limit for atmospheric carbon dioxide levels 3.2 billion years ago

The quantification of greenhouse gases present in the Archaean atmosphere is critical for understanding the evolution of atmospheric oxygen, surface temperatures and the conditions for life on early Earth. For instance, it has been argued that small changes in the balance between two potential greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and methane, may have dictated the feedback cycle involving organic haze production and global cooling. Climate models have focused on carbon dioxide as the greenhouse gas responsible for maintaining above-freezing surface temperatures during a time of low solar luminosity. However, the analysis of 2.75-billion-year (Gyr)-old palaeosols--soil samples preserved in the geologic record--have recently provided an upper constraint on atmospheric carbon dioxide levels well below that required in most climate models to prevent the Earth's surface from freezing. This finding prompted many to look towards methane as an additional greenhouse gas to satisfy climate models. Here we use model equilibrium reactions for weathering rinds on 3.2-Gyr-old river gravels to show that the presence of iron-rich carbonate relative to common clay minerals requires a minimum partial pressure of carbon dioxide several times higher than present-day values. Unless actual carbon dioxide levels were considerably greater than this, climate models predict that additional greenhouse gases would still need to have a role in maintaining above-freezing surface temperatures.     

High levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide necessary for the termination of global glaciation

The possibility that the Earth suffered episodes of global glaciation as recently as the Neoproterozoic period, between about 900 and 543 million years ago, has been widely discussed. Termination of such 'hard snowball Earth' climate states has been proposed to proceed from accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Many salient aspects of the snowball scenario depend critically on the threshold of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations needed to trigger deglaciation. Here I present simulations with a general circulation model, using elevated carbon dioxide levels to estimate this deglaciation threshold. The model simulates several phenomena that are expected to be significant in a 'snowball Earth' scenario, but which have not been considered in previous studies with less sophisticated models, such as a reduction of vertical temperature gradients in winter, a reduction in summer tropopause height, the effect of snow cover and a reduction in cloud greenhouse effects. In my simulations, the system remains far short of deglaciation even at atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations of 550 times the present levels (0.2 bar of CO2). I find that at much higher carbon dioxide levels, deglaciation is unlikely unless unknown feedback cycles that are not captured in the model come into effect.     

Weakening of tropical Pacific atmospheric circulation due to anthropogenic forcing

Since the mid-nineteenth century the Earth's surface has warmed, and models indicate that human activities have caused part of the warming by altering the radiative balance of the atmosphere. Simple theories suggest that global warming will reduce the strength of the mean tropical atmospheric circulation. An important aspect of this tropical circulation is a large-scale zonal (east-west) overturning of air across the equatorial Pacific Ocean--driven by convection to the west and subsidence to the east--known as the Walker circulation. Here we explore changes in tropical Pacific circulation since the mid-nineteenth century using observations and a suite of global climate model experiments. Observed Indo-Pacific sea level pressure reveals a weakening of the Walker circulation. The size of this trend is consistent with theoretical predictions, is accurately reproduced by climate model simulations and, within the climate models, is largely due to anthropogenic forcing. The climate model indicates that the weakened surface winds have altered the thermal structure and circulation of the tropical Pacific Ocean. These results support model projections of further weakening of tropical atmospheric circulation during the twenty-first century.     

Simulating the amplification of orbital forcing by ocean feedbacks in the last glaciation

According to Milankovitch theory, the lower summer insolation at high latitudes about 115,000 years ago allowed winter snow to persist throughout summer, leading to ice-sheet build-up and glaciation. But attempts to simulate the last glaciation using global atmospheric models have failed to produce this outcome when forced by insolation changes only. These results point towards the importance of feedback effects-for example, through changes in vegetation or the ocean circulation-for the amplification of solar forcing. Here we present a fully coupled ocean-atmosphere model of the last glaciation that produces a build-up of perennial snow cover at known locations of ice sheets during this period. We show that ocean feedbacks lead to a cooling of the high northern latitudes, along with an increase in atmospheric moisture transport from the Equator to the poles. These changes agree with available geological data and, together, they lead to an increased delivery of snow to high northern latitudes. The mechanism we present explains the onset of glaciation-which would be amplified by changes in vegetation-in response to weak orbital forcing.     

二氧化碳腐蚀研究进展

论述了碳钢和低合金钢的CO2腐蚀研究进展,着重讨论了CO2腐蚀机理及其影响因素,分析了CO2腐蚀的研究方向与发展趋势.CO2腐蚀影响因素主要包括环境因素、物理因素和冶金因素三类,CO2腐蚀研究的热点将集中在H2S、碳氢化合物相、缓蚀剂和醋酸等对CO2腐蚀的影响及CO2腐蚀预测等方面.     

SACOL黑碳和沙尘气溶胶辐射强迫分析

利用兰州大学半干旱气候与环境观测站(SACOL)的太阳光度计资料、AREONET气溶胶光学特性资料,采用辐射传输模式SBDART分析了SACOL典型日个例沙尘气溶胶和黑碳气溶胶的长、短波辐射强迫,探讨了不同地表反照率和天顶角对气溶胶辐射强迫的影响.分析表明,沙尘和黑碳在地表的短波辐射强迫分别是-146.54,-60 W/m~2,长波辐射强迫分别是17.79,8.66 W/m~2,短波辐射强迫是长波的6倍多,沙尘辐射强迫是黑碳的2倍多;在大气层顶沙尘和黑碳短波辐射强迫是39.04,27.2 W/m~2,长波辐射强迫为12.19,5.0 W/m~2.短波辐射强迫随地表反照率的增加而增大,长波辐射强迫随地表反照率的增加线性减小.随天顶角减小,大气层顶的短波辐射强迫线性增加,地面短波辐射强迫对数减小,长波辐射强迫随天顶角的变化很小.     

二氧化碳膨胀工艺特性研究

探讨了新引进的二氧化碳膨胀工艺在卷烟生产中的应用。研究表明,二氧化碳膨胀工艺流程中,各工艺参数的调整对膨胀烟丝填充值、含水率的稳定性及可控性等都有较大的影响。通过工艺参数的合理调整。可以大大提高烟丝的利用率。     

注液态CO_2采油井筒热力分析

目前CO2已经被用作有效的驱油剂,CO2到达井底时的热力状态对驱油效果有较大影响.针对影响井底CO2压力和温度的因素,根据液态CO2在竖直井筒中的热量传递原理和流体流动理论,在Ramey建立的物理模型基础上,建立了液态CO2井筒流动与传热数学模型,通过求解实例,得到井筒内液态CO2温度和压力的分布规律以及各因素对井底CO2参数的影响.结果表明:井筒内CO2的温度和压力随井深的增加而近似成线性增加;当注入速率增大时,气液分界面加深;井底温度随入口流量的增加而降低,而受入口温度的影响较小;井底压力随井口注入压力的增加而成比例增加,随着流量的增加呈先增后减的趋势;环空介质采用清水比空气的导热效果好.     

浅析CO_2浓度升高对小麦的影响

目的了解近来年CO2浓度升高对小麦生长产生的重要影响。方法参考大量文献,分别从生长、生理和品质3个方面阐述了CO2浓度升高对小麦影响的研究进展。结果首先,CO2浓度一定范围内的升高属于施肥效应,促进了作物的生长、提高了叶片的光合作用、降低了呼吸作用,提高了小麦的产量;其次,CO2浓度升高对小麦的品质产生了重要的影响;最后,指出了研究的重点,对以后的研究方向提供了思路。结论可以结合前人研究结果,利用CO2浓度增加的肥料效应,使用一定手段来提高小麦的产量和品质。     

荧光素荧光法测定大气中SO2的研究

报道了以荧光素为指示剂,荧光法间接测定大气中ＳＯ２ 的方法．在ｐＨ＝ ５．５ ～７ ．５ 中性缓冲介质中,Ｉ２ 与荧光素反应,使荧光素的荧光熄灭,当加入ＳＯ２－３ 时,ＳＯ２－３ 与Ｉ２ 反应使体系荧光增强,体系激发波长、发射波长分别为４９４ ｎｍ 和５１０ｎｍ ,ＳＯ２－３ 含量在２ ．１～６０．０ μｇ／Ｌ范围内呈良好线性关系,检测下限为２．１ μｇ／Ｌ．     

SC-CO2氛围中制备双金属负载型催化剂的催化性能

在SC-CO2氛围中利用其在碳纳米管中较高的扩散性能,以Ni/CNTs为催化剂主体并分别添加了锌、钼、钴、铜、镧等金属元素,制备双金属催化剂.SC-CO2可将金属粒子带入碳纳米管内腔以提高金属在载体表面的分散度,从而提高催化剂的催化性能.考察了不同添加剂对反应的影响.试验证明,含有添加剂的反应体系具有更高的催化活性和选择性.     

Preliminary study on electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide on nickel and platinum electrodes

The electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide was investigated on nickel and platinum electrodes in 0.5 mol dm^-3 KHCO3 solutions. The main products were formic acid and carbon monoxide during the electroreduction of CO2, and the Faradaic efficiency for this process depended on the characteristics of the electrode. At ambient temperature and pressure, the Faradaic efficiency was measured to be 8.6% and 2.5 % respectively for the production of formic acid and CO with Pt electrode at - 1.3V vs Ag/AgCl （saturated KCl）. At this same potential, the Faradaic efficiency was measured to be 8.9% and 1.7% respectively with Ni electrode. Tafel plots showed that the electrochemical reduction of CO2 was not limited by the mass transfer process in the range of -0.8 to - 1.2V vs Ag/AgCl （saturated KCl）.