Atmospheric CO2 and Temperature: Which is a Cause and Which is an Effect?

Theology Sets Your Worldview

NASA article The Ocean’s Carbon Balance, published July 1, 2008, addressed the oceans’ carbon balance.
QUOTE: “After 30 years of research, the question itself hasn’t changed, but the reasoning behind it couldn’t be more different. Oceanographers started out wanting to know if the ocean was keeping up with the amount of carbon dioxide people are putting into the atmosphere. Instead, they found that people aren’t the only players changing the ocean carbon cycle. Over decades, natural cycles in weather and ocean currents alter the rate at which the ocean soaks up and vents carbon dioxide.” UNQUOTE

“I Wouldn’t Have Seen It If I Hadn’t Believed It.” This is a quote from Marshall McLuhan, one of the world’s greatest philosophers and multi-talented educators. The quote above clearly shows the way our mind works. If we don’t believe in something, we’re not going to see it. ^{[Llewellyn.com blog]}

In general, it is our nature to look for something in a place in which we believe it is. This is true of male pattern blindness, scientists, and criminal investigators. This is true for the climate alarmists like John Kerry, Al Gore, and Greta Thunberg.

Atheists worship the Earth; mankind is the enemy of Mother Earth. Their schemata and their worldviews are shaped by Darwinianism, which excludes a grand design of a grand designer.

Scientific Worldviews in Transition

Imminent scientific minds like Robert B. Herrmann, Ph.D. Professor of Geophysics at the Saint Louis University School of Science and Engineering recognizes the scientific evidence of the universe points to intelligent design. “Dr. Herrmann completed his original, purely mathematical work in this area before the Intelligent Design movement was formed and has since expanded it to (in general terms) a Grand Unified Theory of Everything.”

Intelligent Design is Ancient History

Open these links to learn about intelligent design in the Bible: John 1:3, Romans 1:20, Hebrews 3:4, Genesis 1:1, Job 10:9-12, Isaiah 48:13, Genesis 1:27, Psalm 139:15, Genesis 1:1-31, Psalm 19:1, Psalm 139:14, Psalm 8:3-4, Isaiah 44:24, Ephesians 2:10, Revelation 4:11, Deuteronomy 4:32, Genesis 1:16, Job 26:7.

God Commands the Weather Cycles

Rain, Dew, Drought, and Hail: Genesis 2:5, Genesis 7:4, Exodus 9:18, Exodus 9:23, Exodus 9:33, Leviticus 26:4, 11:11, Deuteronomy 11:14, Deuteronomy 11:17, Deuteronomy 28:12, Deuteronomy 28:24, Deuteronomy 33:28, 1 Samuel 12:17, 1 Samuel 12:18, 2 Samuel 1:21, 1 Kings 8:35, 1 Kings 8:36, 1 Kings 17:1, 1 Kings 17:7, 1 Kings 17:14, 1 Kings 18:1, 2 Kings 3:17, 2 Chronicles 6:26, 2 Chronicles 6:27, 2 Chronicles 7:13-14

Hurricanes and Tornadoes: Luke 8:23-25, Psalm 83:15, Psalm 107:25, Psalm 107:29, Psalm 148:8, Isaiah 28:2, Isaiah 29:6, Jonah 1:4, Nahum 1:3, Zechariah 10:1

Founding Fathers Acknowledged God as Our Creator

The Declaration of Independence, the first sentence of the second paragraph: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”

Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide – CO₂

Fact: There are two sources of heat on our planet Earth: heat from the core of the Earth and heat from the Sun. Both the core and the Sun’s corona are close to the same temperature, ~10,000 °F.

Fact: Radiant heat from the Sun varies with the distance between the Earth and the Sun.

At the moment of 1016 hours on 1 August 2023, the distance between the Earth and the sun was 151,535,207 km (94,159,612.23952119 miles). 6 hours later, at 1620 hours, the distance between the earth and the sun was 151,833,459 km (94,344,937.44034836 miles), a difference of 298,252 km (185,325.2008271693 miles). Is this distance significant?

Remember when you approached an open outdoor fire or roaring fireplace on a cold winter’s evening. If too hot, you back off a foot or two. Do you remember the great difference in the sensation of heat on your body?

If one foot made a difference in your comfort around an open fire or a fireplace, imagine the difference in the heat by moving one foot closer to or farther away from the sun.

Watch the distance change in real-time here [Earth Distance: xxx,xxx,xxx km]

Limestone and water feature CO₂ cycles as their respective temperatures vary. Limestone’s absorption and expression of CO₂ is a very slow process, and the ocean process is very fast.

The waters of the oceans are not static. The waters do not settle in one place as does the water in a small pond or manmade reservoir. The rotation of the Earth is to the East. The time it takes Earth to rotate so the sun appears in the same position in the sky, known as a solar day, is 24 hours. However, the time it takes Earth to complete one full rotation on its axis with respect to distant stars is actually 23 hours 56 minutes 4.091 seconds, known as a sidereal day. ^{[NewScientist.com]} Ground speed at the Equator is 1,037.6898910363 mph. Meanwhile, the earth speeds around the Sun at 24,901.4505289112 mph.

Do you notice the clockwise rotation of surface waters in the northern hemisphere and the counterclockwise rotation of surface waters in the southern hemisphere?

Some Like It Hot, Some Like It Cold

The water cools substantially as the surface waters circulate through the polar regions. As the water cools, it absorbs CO₂ and O₂. Surface water warms as it flows east to west at the equator. Warm waters liberate CO₂ back into the atmosphere.

QUOTE: “Without the buffering function of the world oceans, the impact of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions would be far more dramatic¹. The retention time of up to 25% of human CO₂ emissions from the atmosphere^2,3 strongly depends on the local export efficiency and sequestration depth. Photosynthetically fixed particulate organic carbon (POC) can increase retention times drastically due to gravitational sinking into deeper waters or sediments isolating it from the atmosphere for long time scales⁴. POC fluxes are traditionally considered to decrease exponentially with depth due to ongoing grazing and respiration⁵.” UNQUOTE Nature Geoscience, November 21, 2022: Carbon dioxide sink in the Arctic Ocean from cross-shelf transport of dense Barents Sea water

What is the carbon cycle? The carbon cycle is nature’s way of recycling carbon atoms. Carbon is the foundation for all life on Earth. ^[NOAA.gov]

Carbon is the foundation of all life on Earth, required to form complex molecules like proteins and DNA. This element is also found in our atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide (CO₂). Carbon helps to regulate the Earth’s temperature, makes all life possible, is a key ingredient in the food that sustains us, and provides a major source of the energy to fuel our global economy. ^[NOAA.gov]

In Summary: CO₂ is not a pollutant but the central mineral essential to all life on earth.

The Weighty Matter of Atmospheric Gases

The chart below stacks the constituent gasses of our atmosphere in order of molecular weight. For the sake of simplicity and to help your understanding of the role of CO₂, not all the gasses in the atmosphere are shown.

Two gases important to indoor air quality (IAQ) are CO₂ and CO.

Carbon Monixide (CO)

We monitor CO in parking garages to exercise exhaust fans to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning of motorists and others exposed to the exhaust gasses of automobiles and trucks. Because CO is lighter than air, CO sensors should be placed 6 to 8 feet above the garabe floor. This is also a common practice for sally ports in jails and prisons.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) safety limit for CO is 35 parts per million (ppm). The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) safe operating limit is 50 ppm.

Carbon Dioxide (CO₂)

We monitor CO₂ in indoor spaces of buildings to limit the concentration of this gas. In office buildings, I set 600 ppm as a preferred limit for overall comfort, safety, and the health of occupants. Unlike CO, CO₂ does not readily bind with O₂ (oxygen) in the blood stream. Because CO₂ is heavier than air, sensors should be placed at 4 feet AFF (above finished floor), a typical head height for office workers.

The chief differences between CO and CO2 are these:

• CO is a toxic gas that can kill you or cause brain damage
• CO₂ is not toxic and causes drowsiness

A little-known fact about the International Space Station (ISS) is the IAQ operates with around 5,000 ppm CO₂ concentration. NASA is working to mitigate the situation with CO₂ scrubbers.

Water vapor is the most important greenhouse gas, but climate alarmists ignore this fact because atmospheric water vapor cannot be attributed to human activity.

Learn more about carbon dioxide from the CO₂ Coalition: https://co2coalition.org/

Summary

The Designer of the Universe, the Living God, created cycles and natural systems to sustain life on Earth. The Carbon Cycle and the Water Cycle are probably the most prominent in sustaining all life on Earth. Neither are pollutants. Both cycles are self-regulating systems designed to support all life on the planet.

Climate alarmists claim we are experiencing record heat, but data does not support this claim. For facts on this issue, read Data Shows We’re NOT Seeing Record Heat, posted July 9, 2023.

Is the rising atmospheric concentration of CO₂ an existential threat to mankind? No. Read How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Carbon Dioxide for the Facts.

Is the overall climate of the Earth changing? Yes, just as it has form the moment of creation. We are presently in an interglacial period, moving back to another ice age. I refer the reader to U.S. government resources and trusted non-government scientific resources:

• USGS: How long can we expect the present Interglacial period to last?
• NOAA: What is glacial isostatic adjustment?
• NOAA: What’s the hottest Earth’s ever been?
• National Geographic: Colossal volcano behind ‘mystery’ global cooling finally found
• CO2 Coalition: Carbon Dioxide Benefits the World: See for Yourself

To allay your fears over rising tides, consider the water level at Liberty Island, the location of the Statue of Liberty. Here is a panel of photographs dating from 1898 to 2023. What do you notice about the water line?

Congressman Pat Fallon (TX CD4) remarked on August 1, 2023 at the Fate, Texas townhall event, “When you mix politics with medicine, you get bad politics and bad medicine.” This also applies to the climate sciences.

Scientia Potentia Est — Knowledge is PowerA

John White
Rockwall, Texas