A negative feedback mechanism for the long-term stabilization of the earth's surface temperature
Abstract
It is suggested that the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is buffered, over geological time scales, by a negative feedback mechanism, in which the rate of weathering of silicate minerals (followed by deposition of carbonate minerals) depends on surface temperature, which in turn depends on the carbon dioxide partial pressure through the greenhouse effect. Although the quantitative details of this mechanism are speculative, it appears able to partially stabilize the earth's surface temperature against the steady increase of solar luminosity, believed to have occurred since the origin of the solar system.
- Publication:
-
Journal of Geophysical Research
- Pub Date:
- October 1981
- DOI:
- Bibcode:
- 1981JGR....86.9776W
- Keywords:
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- Earth Surface;
- Negative Feedback;
- Planetary Evolution;
- Stabilization;
- Surface Temperature;
- Carbon Dioxide;
- Long Term Effects;
- Partial Pressure;
- Silicates;
- Solar System;
- Stellar Luminosity