Category Archives: Carbon Cycle

The Missing 13C

A couple years back we decided to try making an isotope integrated Carbon cycle model, to see if we could replicate the isotopic “excursions” evident in the geological record. This effort foundered because we couldn’t even balance the current Carbon … Continue reading

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Carbon Starved Planet

We owe the title of this book to Ferdinand Engelbeen, who wrote the words in one of many blog discussions some years ago. Ferdinand’s words resonated instantly as a title for the book we had been working on for several … Continue reading

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How Big is the Carbon Cycle?

Just google it and you will finds dozens of Carbon cycle illustrations. Most are cartoons, but half a dozen good ones can be filtered out. Mostly they agree in round numbers. The following by the IPCC is clearly the best: … Continue reading

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Doubling the Carbon Cycle

In the last post we had set out to model geological isotope excursions and found that our conception of the current Carbon cycle is so messed up that any venture into deep time hopeless. Specifically, when d13C values are integrated … Continue reading

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Cycling the Isotopes

We have long been interested in Carbon isotope “excursions” and took a notion to integrate isotope ratios into a simple box model of the Carbon cycle with an eye to replicating these excursions. The initial result was surprising and it became … Continue reading

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YGBFkiddinme, Low Emissions Grass?

From Nature Magazine this pearl of pulchritude: “The solution, says Michael Peters, an agronomist at CIAT and leader of the team that has developed the low-emissions grass, is to encourage ammonium to persist in the soil for longer, by suppressing microbial … Continue reading

Posted in Biology, Carbon Cycle, Climate, Climate Change, History of Life, Microbial Dark Matter, Paleoclimate, Salvation from Cows, What's going on here? | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dude, It’s Not About Carbon Dioxide

We know a lot about Carbon dioxide in a jar. We know the wavelengths it prefers to absorb and emit photons. We know it tends to mix efficiently with other gasses. We know it has a nearly magical affinity for … Continue reading

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I Deny

“Denier!”, in the tone of apostasy. Well, call me the apostate, because I deny. I deny that there is any reasonable scientific evidence that Carbon dioxide will cause catastrophic global warming. I deny this as a naturalist and serious student … Continue reading

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A Quick Review of the Carbon Cycle

Quick review of the carbon cycle magnitude per NASA in Gt.: Ocean to atmosphere 90 Microbial respiration land 60 Plant respiration land 60 Human 9 ——— Total surface to atmosphere 219 Photosynthesis land 123 Atmosphere to Ocean 92 ——- Total atmosphere … Continue reading

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The Naturalist and the Seven Microatmosphere Disparity, or Carbon Dioxide Loves to Swim

Humans are naturalists by nature. We like to use our wonderful, color sensing eyes to peer through the leaves into the netherworld beyond to better understand how our world works. We’ve hacked the leaves back quite a bit now but … Continue reading

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