Residence Time vs. Adjustment Time of Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere

We study the concepts of residence time vs. adjustment time time for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The system is analyzed with a two-box first-order model. Using this model, we reach three important conclusions: (1) The adjustment time is never larger than the residence time and can, thus, not b...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Peter Stallinga
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-02-01
Series:Entropy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/25/2/384
Description
Summary:We study the concepts of residence time vs. adjustment time time for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The system is analyzed with a two-box first-order model. Using this model, we reach three important conclusions: (1) The adjustment time is never larger than the residence time and can, thus, not be longer than about 5 years. (2) The idea of the atmosphere being stable at 280 ppm in pre-industrial times is untenable. (3) Nearly 90% of all anthropogenic carbon dioxide has already been removed from the atmosphere.
ISSN:1099-4300