[Terrapreta] two recent articles on TP

[Kevin Chisholm]

Dear Michael

Michael Bailes wrote:
>> I don't have any references for it, but I seem to recall that a few
>> years ago, there was a study undertaken to show that "air over land" had
>> higher GHG content than "air over ocean." The study gave the surprising
>> result that the "air over water" had HIGHER GHG content. One credible
>> explanation is that the ocean is warming and that it is losing its
>> capability to dissolve such gases.explanation. Is it possible that the
>> explanation of Tim's observation is as simple as average wind direction?
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Kevin
>>     
> Interesting, and strange observation.
>   

Why do you say these observations are strange? The Ocean is a huge sink 
for CO2, and it is natural to feel that the hotter the ovean watyer, teh 
less the CO2 it can absorb and/or hold.
> Would they have been including water vapour (humidity) the single most
> important greenhouse gas?
>   

No. The concern up until recently was only about CO2 and CH4. Only 
recently is H2O being acknowledged as being a GHG
> You need a breakdown of all the gasses measured.
>   

No, you don't. It is a major revelation that the non-H2O GHG's above the 
ocean were higher than above the land.
> To my knowledge H2O gas has been increasing of late but no-one has
> historical figures for its past levels.
>   

Sure! Such records are readily available.... if you know the atmospheric 
temperature, you know the maximum water content (saturated)
> Given the huge increase in dam construction in the last 60-100 years
> land evaporartion would have been significant.
>   

Ocean area is much larger than land area. Whenever saturated air is 
cooled, it rains (or snows), unlike CO2, that does not fall out with a 
simple temperature change.
> Tthough you would still expect this to be higher over water?
> Odd.
>   

I am missing your point... water was not the point of my comments.... 
the point of my comments was the counterintuitive observation that GHG's 
were higher over the ocean, rather than over land, where most people 
thought GHG's were being generated.

Someone knowing the CO2 stored in the Waters of the Worlds Oceans could 
probably do a relatively simple calculation to estimate the rise in 
ocean temperature required for the oceans to liberate  a tonnage of CO2 
equal to that sent to the atmosphere through burning of fossil fuels in 
the last 100 years.

Best wishes,

Kevin
>  michael
>
>