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Atmospheric Co2 facts

While investigating facts about Atmospheric Co2, I found out little known, but curios details like:

There is a fern that has such a high level of atmospheric carbon sequestration that it caused an ice age. Azolla captures 6 tons of atmoshperic carbon per acre per year and could reduce global CO2 levels, while providing high protein livestock feed, or nitrogen rich fertilizer.

The Earth's oceans absorb 25% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) that is released into the atmosphere every year. However, because of the increasing amounts of CO2 into the world's atmosphere, the world's oceans are slowly turning acidic.

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 31 of the best facts about Atmospheric Co2 I managed to collect.

  1. It is predicated that all multicellular life on Earth will die out from a lack of CO2 in the atmosphere in 800 million years, 6.59 billion years before the earth is engulfed by the red giant sun

  2. It's possible to 'scrub' carbon dioxide out of the air. The captured CO2 can then be used to create low-carbon fuels or stored to eliminate the emissions from the atmosphere

  3. Surface planet Venus’ surface doesn't have 'air'. Surface temperatures of 467°C and surface pressures 93X of Earth force the CO2 atmosphere into supercriticality, when a fluid is both liquid and gas. This effective heat conductor keeps Venus' hellish temperature unchanging between night and day.

  4. A British Columbia company backed by the Gates Foundation is sucking CO2 directly from the atmosphere and converting it to usable transportation fuel. The plant removes one ton of carbon dioxide a day, the equivalent of taking 100 cars off the road annually.

  5. 49 million years ago a single type of fern called 'Azolla' is believed to have caused an 80% drop in atmospheric CO2 and drove the creation of our current climate

  6. Within about 600 million years, faster weathering of rocks by an increasingly brighter sun will reduce atmospheric CO2 levels below the threshold required for trees to survive, and all of earth's forests will die.

  7. The same technology a NASA contractor developed to turn CO2 in the Martian atmosphere into oxygen and fuel is now used in breweries to capture the CO2 produced from fermentation to carbonate the beer

  8. In 2015, a 400 million year old fossil forest was discovered on an archipelago situated in the Arctic Ocean. The fossils indicated the area would’ve been covered in extremely dense, 13-foot tall lycopod trees that actually helped reduce the CO2 levels in the atmosphere by 15-fold.

  9. There is more CO2 (carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere today than at any point in the last 800,000 years.

atmospheric co2 facts
What are the best facts about Atmospheric Co2?

Atmospheric Co2 data charts

For your convenience take a look at Atmospheric Co2 figures with stats and charts presented as graphic.

atmospheric co2 fact data chart about Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 from 1975 to 2018
Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 from 1975 to 2018

atmospheric co2 fact data chart about CO2 concentration in atmosphere over last 800,000 years
CO2 concentration in atmosphere over last 800,000 years

What is true about atmospheric co2?

You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.

A low energy process exists for pulling CO2 from the atmosphere. It could decrease atmospheric CO2 levels to those of the pre-industrial revolution within 10 years.

The surface of Venus is hotter then the surface of Mercury due to the higher concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. The surface of Venus is 460 degrees Celsius whereas Mercury is 427 degrees Celsius. - source

CO2 produced from burning fossil fuels or burning forests has a different isotopic composition from CO2 in the atmosphere and if the ratio of 13C/12C in atmospheric CO2 goes up or down, so does the 13C/12C of ratio of tree rings. - source

The last century of whaling, by burning whale oil, released 100 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, the equivalent of burning down a forest the size of Nicaragua

Increased atmospheric CO2 is associated with decreased protein content in plants. - source

CO2 is evenly dispersed throughout the atmosphere.

Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans, caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere.

On Mars in the winter, 30% of the atmosphere freezes as dry ice (CO2) at the poles. In the spring, when it warms, there are eruptions as the CO2 melts as well as winds off the poles at 400km/hr.

Pancakes on Mars would be bigger and fluffier due to larger CO2 bubbles caused by the lower pressure of the atmosphere and the lower gravity.

Iron Fertilization. Placing a few tons of water soluble iron into the ocean can spark such a great amount of photosynthesis from phytoplankton that they can reduce the amount of CO2 drastically In the atmosphere More efficiently than 2000 redwood trees.

25% of all man made CO2 went into the atmosphere from 1997-2012 and no temperature increase occurred.

Atmospheric co2 infographics

Beautiful visual representation of Atmospheric Co2 numbers and stats to get perspecive of the whole story.

atmospheric co2 fact infographic about Geography and seasonality in growth of atmospheric CO2 conce

Geography and seasonality in growth of atmospheric CO2 concentration


atmospheric co2 fact infographic about Mauna Loa (Hawaii) Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations 1959 - 199

Mauna Loa (Hawaii) Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations 1959 - 1997


Interesting facts about atmospheric co2

Patrick Moore (co-founder of GreenPeace) thinks that the ideal amount of CO2 in our atmosphere for plant growth is (2000ppm) about 5 times the current concentration of 400 parts per million.

The rate we are putting CO2 into the atmosphere today is 10 times higher than that of the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). The PETM lead to 5-9°C worth of warming in sea surface temperatures* and a major ocean acidification event that took >100,000years to recover from.

There is a fern that has such a high level of atmospheric carbon sequestration that it caused an ice age. Azolla captures 6 tons of atmoshperic carbon per acre per year and could reduce global CO2 levels, while providing high protein livestock feed, or nitrogen rich fertilizer.

A team of chemists found a way to convert atmospheric CO2 directly into highly valued carbon nanofibers, which can remove enough CO2 to decrease atmospheric levels to those of the pre-industrial revolution within 10 years

About a rare type of natural disaster called a Limnic Eruption where massive amounts of CO2 are released into the atmosphere suffocating all nearby animals. The worst occurrence killed 1,700 people.

A Pyrgeometer is a scientific instrument used at weather stations to measure atmospheric infra-red radiation (ie from the earth's atmosphere back to earth). Measurements from around the world show this to be increasing with CO2 concentrations.

Historic Glimpse At CO2 & The Atmosphere: Perlin Interview

Atmospheric and oceanic oxygen declines are occurring at a rate that even exceeds CO2 depletion. Current data suggests oxygen-based life that currently thrives on Earth will face suffocation in 750 years or less.

This is our collection of basic interesting facts about Atmospheric Co2. The fact lists are intended for research in school, for college students or just to feed your brain with new realities. Possible use cases are in quizzes, differences, riddles, homework facts legend, cover facts, and many more. Whatever your case, learn the truth of the matter why is Atmospheric Co2 so important!

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