Question: What role does carbon dioxide play in global warming and will it affect our water?

Asked by science2011321 to Posty on 17 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by lucychap11.

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  1. Photo: David PostDavid Post
    answered on 17 Jun 2011:

    Hi science2011321,

    That’s a really good question. Carbon dioxide is a very important greenhouse gas. It doesn’t have the largest greenhouse effect – water vapour actually does, however carbon dioxide has been increasingly steadily since the early part of the 20th century, due mostly to the extra carbon dioxide being emitted by human activities. We have good measurements of this at a number of locations, including at Cape Grim in NW Tasmania.

    In terms of water, carbon dioxide is making the oceans slightly more acidic (as it makes carbonic acid when dissolved in water). I don’t think this is having a measurable effect on rainwater – acid rain is more due to sulfur dioxide in the air (also emitted by power stations).

    Overall, the warming of the Earth will have only a very small efect on total global rainfall, but it is likely to change the distribution of rainfall, and one place where we expect to see less rainfall is across southern Australia unfortunately.

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Comments

  1. Photo: science2011321science2011321
    commented on 19 Jun 2011:

    Thankyou David, your answer has made me really concerned about the environment and it also makes me want to learn more so I can make a little difference! 🙂

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