Svante Arrhenius

“ If we pass the above-mentioned processes for consuming and producing carbonic acid under review, we find that they evidently do not stand in such a relation to or dependence on one another that any probability exists for the permanence of an equilibrium of the carbonic acid in the atmosphere. ”

“ One often hears the opinion expressed, that the quantity of carbonic acid in the air ought to have been very much greater formerly than now, and that the diminution should arise from the circumstance that carbonic acid has been taken from the air and stored in the Earth's crust in the form of coal and carbonates. ”

“ Certain American geologists hold the opinion that since the close of the ice age only some 7000 to 10,000 years have elapsed, but this most probably is greatly underestimated.
One may now ask, How much must the carbonic acid vary, according to our figures, in order that the temperature should attain the same values as in the tertiary and ice ages, respectively? A simple calculation shows that the temperature in the arctic regions would rise about 8° to 9° C., if the carbonic acid increased to 2.5 or 3 times its present value. ”

“ The carbonic acid of the air is consumed chiefly by the following processes: (6) formation of carbonates from silicates on weathering; and (7) the consumption of carbonic acid by vegetative processes. The ocean, too, plays an important role as a regulator of the quantity of carbonic acid in the air by means of the absorptive power of its water, which gives off carbonic acid as its temperature rises, and absorbs it as it cools. ”

“ With regard to the great rapidity with which the transformation in organic nature proceeds, the disposable quantity of carbonic acid is not so excessive that changes caused by climatological or other reasons in the velocity and value of that transformation might not be able to cause displacements of the equilibrium. ”

“ From geological researches the fact is well established that in tertiary times there existed a vegetation and an animal life in the temperate and arctic zones that must have been conditioned by a much higher temperature than the present in the same regions. ”

“ The demands of the geologists, that at the genial epochs the climate should be more uniform than now, accords very well with our theory. The geographical annual and diurnal ranges of temperature would be partly smoothed away, if the quantity of carbonic acid was augmented. ”

“ Just as single volcanoes have their periods of variation with alternating relative rest and intense activity, in the same manner the globe as a whole seems in certain geological epochs to have exhibited a more violent and general volcanic activity, whilst other epochs have been marked by a comparative quiescence of the volcanic forces. It seems therefore probable that the quantity of carbonic acid in the air has undergone nearly simultaneous variations, or at least that this factor has had an important influence. ”

“ The following calculation is also very instructive for the appreciation of the relation between the quantity of carbonic acid in the air and the quantities that are transformed. The world's present production of coal reaches, in round numbers, 500 millions of tons per annum, or one ton per km. ”

“ The longest-living author of this work died in 1927, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 96 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works. ”