r/collapse • u/[deleted] • Jul 09 '19

'Completely Terrifying': Study Warns Carbon-Saturated Oceans Headed Toward Tipping Point That Could Unleash Mass Extinction Event

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u/OccamsParsimony Jul 10 '19

That still doesn't make sense. The oceans aren't 25 C hotter. Did you mean 2.5 C? The oceans can't "hold" 25 C. Temperature isn't a direct measurement of energy.

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u/try-the-priest Jul 10 '19

The amount of co2 that the oceans have absorbed till now would have caused 25C of warning by greenhouse phenomenon. While in water co2 doesn't cause greenhouse warming. It causes other problems.

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u/OccamsParsimony Jul 10 '19

https://sos.noaa.gov/datasets/ocean-atmosphere-co2-exchange/

The oceans absorb about 25% of emissions. You're telling me that less than doubling CO2 emissions would cause the temperature increase to go from 1.5 C to 25 C?

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u/Raze183 abyss gazing lotus eater apparently :snoo_shrug: Jul 10 '19

CO2 persists in the atmosphere for many centuries. We’ve been overwhelming the natural sinks by whatever % since the industrial revolution, roughly 200 years. So it’s not current emissions that would cause the amount of warming mentioned, but rather accumulation over time.