Can carbon dioxide leave Earth's atmosphere and impact of AI in the field of environmental monitoring and climate change prediction?

What a fascinating question!

Carbon Dioxide and Earth's Atmosphere:

○ Carbon dioxide (CO₂) is Earth's most important greenhouse gas. Unlike oxygen or nitrogen, which comprise most of our atmosphere, greenhouse gases absorb heat radiating from the Earth's surface and re-release it in all directions, including back toward the Earth's surface.

○ CO₂ moves around the Earth system through the carbon cycle, naturally traveling between the atmosphere, ocean, plants, and rocks over time. However, human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, have significantly increased CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere.

○ While some CO₂ does leave the atmosphere through natural processes, our excessive emissions have led to a net increase in atmospheric CO₂ levels. Researchers are exploring ways to remove CO₂ from the air to mitigate climate change:

■ Plants as Fuel and Carbon Catchers: Crops like corn or switchgrass absorb CO₂ as they grow. If burned in power plants to produce electricity, the resulting CO₂ is captured and stored underground, helping move carbon out of the atmosphere.

■ Forests and Farms: Planting new forests and managing existing ones can enhance CO₂ uptake. On farms, practices like growing cover crops, adding manure or compost and reducing tilling increase carbon storage in the soil.

■ Air Filters and Underground Storage: Existing technology allows CO₂ to be removed from the atmosphere as air passes through large air filters, with subsequent storage deep underground.

○ Challenges remain, including the need for faster and more cost-effective methods. Some approaches, like iron fertilization in oceans, may pose environmental risks.

AI's Impact on Environmental Monitoring and Climate Prediction:

○ Artificial intelligence (AI) plays a crucial role in addressing climate change:

■ Iceberg Monitoring: AI can measure iceberg changes 10,000 times faster than humans, aiding our understanding of meltwater release into the ocean due to climate change.

■ Deforestation Mapping: AI, combined with satellite images, helps map deforestation's impact on climate. Companies like Space Intelligence remotely measure deforestation rates and carbon storage in forests.

■ Climate Risk Prediction: In Africa, AI predicts weather patterns to aid climate-vulnerable communities in adapting and mitigating climate impacts.

■ Climate Modeling and Prediction: AI processes vast amounts of data to improve climate impact assessments and the accuracy of predictions.

While CO₂ can leave the atmosphere through natural processes, our emissions overwhelm these natural cycles. AI contributes significantly to climate solutions by monitoring, predicting, and mitigating environmental challenges.

Source(s)

1. Climate Change: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

2. Can We Pull Carbon Dioxide Out‌ ‌Of‌ ‌the‌ ‌Atmosphere?‌

3. 9 ways AI is helping tackle climate change - The World Economic Forum

4. Some experts see AI as a tool against climate change. Others say its ...

5. AI's Impact on Climate Change: Combating Environmental ... - Medium

6. How AI can help the world prepare for climate adaptation

7. Artificial Intelligence for Climate Change Risk Prediction, Adaptation ...

8. How long do greenhouse gases stay in the air?

9. How do we know how long carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere?

Rk Naresh

Dr Francesco Barbangelo thank you for your contribution to the discussion

Frank Veroustraete

Hi RK Naresh,

I have to disappoint you somewhat/

Carbon dioxide (CO2) does not have a well-defined half-life in the atmosphere because its removal is influenced by various complex processes. However, it is often estimated that the average lifetime of a CO2 molecule in the atmosphere is around 5 to 200 years, depending on the sources and sinks considered. Some sources suggest an average timescale of around 30 to 95 years for atmospheric CO2 to get absorbed by ocean-atmosphere exchanges, plant CO2 fixation and other processes.

The primary removal mechanisms for carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are:

Photosynthesis: Plants, algae, and some bacteria actively take up CO2 and convert it into organic compounds (such as glucose) using sunlight as an energy source. This process stores carbon in plants and soils, which act as carbon sinks.

Ocean-atmosphere exchange: The oceans absorb CO2 from the atmosphere through a process called dissolution. The CO2 reacts with seawater to form carbonic acid, bicarbonate, and carbonate ions. This process helps regulate atmospheric CO2 levels but also leads to ocean acidification, killing for example coral reefs.

Weathering of rocks: Over long timescales, the chemical weathering of silicate rocks on Earth's surface consumes CO2. In this process, CO2 reacts with minerals in the rocks to form new compounds like calcium carbonate, which eventually get deposited in the ocean as a sediment.

Carbon sequestration: Human technologies are developed to capture CO2 emitted by industrial processes or directly from the atmosphere. Storage can be underground or realized with other long-term storage solutions. This is an active area of research and development to mitigate climate change, without large scale applications needed to reduce atmospheric CO2 concentration. Carbon fixation is just a small ripple in the Northern Hemisphere on the global trend of CO2 increase in the atmosphere.

For your AI question, you can find a lot of answers about its possible impacts in the literature.

Rk Naresh

Dr Frank Veroustrete thank you for your contribution to the discussion

Rk Naresh

Yes, some minerals naturally react with CO2, turning carbon dioxide from a gas into a solid and keeping it out of the atmosphere permanently. This process is commonly referred to as “carbon mineralization” or “enhanced weathering,” and it naturally happens very slowly, over hundreds or thousands of years. Some carbon dioxide makes its way out of the atmosphere through the carbon cycle, but we are emitting so much that the amount of carbon dioxide in the air keeps increasing. There are various ways to remove carbon dioxide from Earth's atmosphere, ranging from early-stage technologies that suck the warming gas from the air and sequester it in artificial stone to more natural interventions involving reforestation or fertilizing parts of the ocean to promote the growth of algae. The current global average concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is 421 ppm. This is an increase of 50% since the start of the Industrial Revolution, up from 280 ppm during the 10,000 years prior to the mid-18th century. The increase is due to human activity. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) can contribute to the fight against climate change. Existing AI systems include tools that predict weather, track icebergs and identify pollution. AI can also be used to improve agriculture and reduce its environmental impact. The global goal for affordable and clean energy for all by 2030 (SDG 7), AI can optimize grids and increase the efficiency of renewable sources. Predictive maintenance using AI can also reduce downtime in energy production. That can mean reducing the planet's carbon footprint. AI algorithms can be trained on past data to predict hazardous material releases and environmental pollution. AI solutions for environmental monitoring, thus, would include early warning systems for hazardous material release, autonomous pollution monitoring systems as well as decision support systems. AI is playing a vital role in the conservation of wildlife and their habitats through the deployment of AI-enabled cameras and sensors. These tools are designed to monitor, track, and safeguard endangered species by providing invaluable data on wildlife populations and their behaviors’. AI is pivotal in enhancing the accuracy and reliability of non-invasive cardiac output monitoring. Machine learning algorithms can process complex data from various non-invasive sensors, improving the precision of cardiac output estimates and providing valuable insights for clinical decision-making. Additionally, technology can help us monitor and track emissions, identify areas for improvement, and develop more sustainable practices. By leveraging technology, we can accelerate our transition to a low-carbon economy and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

How can I measure MMP-1 protein activity or protein level from liver tissue?

Binary Logistic Generalized Linear Mixed model in SPSS. Is it doable?

Looking for Materials with high thermal expansion coefficient and high temperature resistance?

Guidelines for survey (question type) analysis?

What are the values needed for gabor filter's parameter for cifar10 data?

Can we block unwanted images during the x-ray prediction?

No title

What techniques can I use to determine the miscibility of polymer blends?

Sample dilution for quantitative analysis using ELISA?

The procedure compute?

How climate change will influences human and animal behavioral change?

What are some of the research gaps in machine learning and artificial intelligence in africa?

How to calculate average trend in maximum annual NDVI from MODIS?

How to quantify carbon deposition on CuZnAl catalyst?

Why Trivalent chromium start precipitating above PH 5 ? Moreover discuss difference between adsorption of chromium and precipitation of chromium ?

What are the countries most affected by extreme rainfall as a result of climate change?

What are the harmful effects of these extreme rainfall on the health of newborns? What are the reasons for that?

Where can I find atmospheric measurement profiles (temperature, density, etc.) between 300-800 km altitude?

Where to find data on trees in tropical agroforestry?

How to arrange coordinates and extract climate dataset out of MPI-ESM-MR netcdf files?