Atmospheric lifetime of fossil fuel carbon dioxide

David Archer, Michael Eby, Victor Brovkin, Andy Ridgwell, Long Cao, Uwe Mikolajewicz, Ken Caldeira, Katsumi Matsumoto, Guy Munhoven, Alvaro Montenegro, Kathy Tokos

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

561 Scopus citations

Abstract

CO2 released from combustion of fossil fuels equilibrates among the various carbon reservoirs of the atmosphere, the ocean, and the terrestrial biosphere on timescales of a few centuries. However, a sizeable fraction of the CO2 remains in the atmosphere, awaiting a return to the solid earth by much slower weathering processes and deposition of CaCO3. Common measures of the atmospheric lifetime of CO2, including the e-folding time scale, disregard the long tail. Its neglect in the calculation of global warming potentials leads many to underestimate the longevity of anthropogenic global warming. Here, we review the past literature on the atmospheric lifetime of fossil fuel CO2 and its impact on climate, and we present initial results from a model intercomparison project on this topic. The models agree that 20-35% of the CO2 remains in the atmosphere after equilibration with the ocean (2-20 centuries). Neutralization byCaCO3 draws the airborne fraction down further on timescales of 3 to 7 kyr. Copyright c 2009 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)117-134
Number of pages18
JournalAnnual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences
Volume37
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2009

Keywords

  • Carbon cycle
  • Climate
  • Ocean chemistry
  • Warming

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Atmospheric lifetime of fossil fuel carbon dioxide'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this