2009Nov17: “On average only 45% of each year’s [carbon] emissions remain in the atmosphere. The remaining 55% is absorbed by land and ocean sinks. However, CO2 sinks have not kept pace with rapidly increasing emissions, as the fraction of emissions remaining in the atmosphere has increased over the past 50 years. This is of concern as it indicates the vulnerability of the sinks to increasing emissions and climate change, making natural sinks less efficient ‘cleaners’ of human carbon pollution,” said Global Carbon Project Executive Director and CSIRO’s Dr. Pep Canadell, who is co-author of “Permanent storage of carbon dioxide in geological reservoirs by mineral carbonation”, a paper that appears in Nature Geoscience.
Reference: CSIRO media release. 2009Nov17. Available online at Global Carbon Project http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/carbonbudget/08/press-releases.htm
Read the article abstract – Permanent storage of carbon dioxide in geological reservoirs by mineral carbonation http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ngeo683.html
Image Description: Industrial pollution. Photo by Martin Muránsky. Image Location: Global Carbon Project http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/carbonbudget/08/images.htm Image Permission: Illustrative Photos (available free for Carbon Budget editorials if credited as specified).