Rate of carbon release 10 times faster than previous period of rapid global warming
Based on core samples from 55.9 million years ago, when the earth last experienced a rapid period of global warming, our current rate of carbon release is nearly 10 times as fast. According to geologists, rate matters and this current rapid change may not allow sufficient time for the biological environment to adjust.
The past warming period, known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), experienced a rapid increase in global temperatures over a time span of 20,000 years. Based on models developed at Penn State University, the outcome was a warming of from 9 to 16 degrees Fahrenheit and an acidification event in the oceans.
“Rather than the 20,000 years of the PETM which is long enough for ecological systems to adapt, carbon is now being released into the atmosphere at a rate 10 times faster,” said Lee R. Kump, professor of geosciences at Penn State. “It is possible that this is faster than ecosystems can adapt.”
