Global Warming – A Cause & Effect

Global warming is the term used to describe a gradual increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and its oceans, a change that is believed to be permanently changing the Earth’s climate. Climate scientists looking at the data and facts agree the planet is warming. While many view the effects of global warming to be more substantial and more rapidly occurring than others do, the scientific consensus on climatic changes related to global warming is that the average temperature of the Earth has risen between 0.4 and 0.8 °C over the past 100 years. The increased volumes of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases released by the burning of fossil fuels, land clearing, agriculture, and other human activities, are believed to be the primary sources of the global warming that has occurred over the past 50 years.

Scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate carrying out global warming research have recently predicted that average global temperatures could increase between 1.4°C and 5.8°C by the year 2100. Changes resulting from global warming may include rising sea levels due to the melting of the polar ice caps, as well as an increase in occurrence and severity of storms and other severe weather events. Hoesung Lee, chair of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said there were "serious risks" with even minor rises in temperatures from current levels, for instance to coral reefs and to coasts from rising sea levels.

The Continuous Fight The UN's panels of climate scientists are studying on how to limit global warming to the toughest target set by world leaders, saying even small rises in temperatures could be harmful. The panel has been looking into ways to restrict the rise in temperatures to 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times to try and phase out net greenhouse gas emissions this century as discussed in a 195 member meeting summit held last December in Paris.

Last year, average global surface temperatures hit the highest since records began in the 19th century, about 1C above pre-industrial times. In the remote reaches of Antarctica, the South Pole Observatory carbon dioxide observing station cleared 400 ppm on May 23, according to an announcement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday.

That’s the first time it's passed that level in 4 million years (no, that’s not a typo). a lag in how carbon dioxide moves around the atmosphere. Most carbon pollution originates in the northern hemisphere because that's where most of the world's population lives. That’s in part why carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hit the 400 ppm milestone earlier in the northern reaches of the world.

The Pioneering Solution
Scientists have turned carbon dioxide into stone in a matter of months by pumping it deep underground, offering a revolutionary new way of storing the greenhouse gas to tackle climate change. The pioneering experiment in Iceland mixed CO emissions with water and pumped it hundreds of metres underground into volcanic basalt rock — where it rapidly turned into a solid.

Juerg Matter, lead author of Journal Science mentioned the need to deal with rising carbon emissions is to store them back to stone in his publication. Carbon dioxide is a key factor in global warming, and experts have long called for innovative “carbon capture and storage” solutions.

Attempt in aquifers
Previous attempts to inject CO into sandstone soils or deep saline aquifers have struggled, as they relied on capping rocks to hold the gas down — triggering fears it could eventually leak. In contrast, the Carbfix project at Iceland’s Hellisheidi plant — the world’s largest geothermal facility, which powers Reykjavik — sought to solidify the CO2.

The plant produces 40,000 tons of CO a year — just 5% of the emissions of a similarly sized coal plant, but still significant. In 2012, they began pumping 250 tons of CO mixed with water underground. Scientists had feared it could take hundreds or even thousands of years for the mildly acidic liquid to solidify. But 95% of the injected mixture — which they had tagged with tracer chemicals in order to check it didn’t leak out — had became chalky white stone within two years.

“It was a very welcome surprise,” said Edda Aradottir, who heads the project for Reykjavik Energy. Encouraged by the success, the company has scaled up the project and from this summer will be burying some 10,000 tonnes of CO each year which will allow Reykjavik Energy to pump down large amounts of CO and store it in a very safe way over a very short period of time, as per co –author Martin Stute’s observation. (Hydrologist at Columbia University’s Earth Observatory)

Furthermore, he believes the above can be also used for power plants in places where there’s a lot of basalt extensively. A 2014 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that without carbon sequestration technology, adequately limiting global warming could prove impossible.

On seafloors
Basalt makes up most of the world’s seafloors and approximately 10 per cent of continental rocks, according to the study’s researchers. A porous, blackish rock, basalt is rich in calcium, iron and magnesium; minerals, researchers said are needed to solidify carbon for storage. “Carbon capture is not the silver bullet, but it can contribute significantly to reducing carbon dioxide emissions,” Mr. Matter said.

Conclusion 

The IPCC would also issue an overall report about the risks of climate change in 2022, in time for a scheduled global review in 2023 of governments' plans for fighting climate change. The December 2015 summit asked the IPCC to come up with a report about 1.5C, level scientists reckon would demand drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions