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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Earth Sci.

Sec. Biogeoscience

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feart.2025.1554362

Global Warming, Carbon Cycles, Forests and Photosynthesis; a Hypothesis for Global Cooling.

Provisionally accepted
  • Society of Biological Chemists (India), Bangalore, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    In relation to global warming and the role of carbon dioxide, the atmospheric residence-time of carbon dioxide from industrial emissions, and the carbon dioxide fixation capacity by photosynthesis in forests, land areas and oceans is considered, for the decades 1960 to 2010. Carbon dioxide fixation in forests, annually and worldwide, is estimated to be larger than the annual and global carbon dioxide emissions from industrial and land use activities, for the decades 1960 to 2010. Observations of the Keeling curve for the period 1960 to 2010, imply slow and rate-limiting steps for the atmospheric carbon dioxide cycle from industrial emissions, namely the transfer of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the Earth's surface, forests, land areas and oceans. It is proposed that these carbon dioxide emissions have a long residence-time with significant accumulation in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide emissions from natural biological sources, namely respiration of organisms and passive emissions from the land and oceans, remain close to the Earth's surface, with short atmospheric residence-times, rapid conversion into biomass and no significant accumulation in the atmosphere. This is known as the natural carbon dioxide cycle. Research and development are proposed as follows; (a) determination of the atmospheric residence times of industrial, urban and natural carbon dioxide emissions, (b) effective cooling of flue gases from industrial emissions to direct these emissions to lower atmospheric altitude(s), and thereby decrease the atmospheric residence-time(s) of carbon dioxide. Global, research programs are proposed for these goals, involving national and international organisations and industries.

    Keywords: Keeling curve, Carbon Dioxide, greenhouse gases, atmospheric residence-time, flue gases, environmental technology,, forests, Oceans

    Received: 02 Jan 2025; Accepted: 24 Mar 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 John. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jacob E John, Society of Biological Chemists (India), Bangalore, India

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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