| Kynes said: What people doesn't seem to consider is negative feedback. Higher sea temperatures increase the evaporation in the tropical areas, increasing the number of clouds and reducing the sun rays that reach the ground, cooling it. Higher levels of CO2 make forests and crop fields have higher yield, and this way the CO2 level reduces it's growth. We've had geologic eras with tens of times more CO2 in the atmosphere, with rain forests in the Sahara, with a much more green earth:
Is there a direct correlation of CO2 level and temperature? There doesn't seem to have a lineal correlation, at all. I think people are barking at the wrong tree, and lots of people believe we're much more important than we really are. |
Clearly five hundred million years ago the system was very different - there was more methane in the atmosphere, there was less in the way of carbon dioxide absorbing life, the sun was at a very different point in its life cycle etc. Carbon dioxide would still have had an important part in the climate but the level cannot be directly compared to current conditions. If you want a real comparison look at more recent data such as that from the Holocene period.
