Revelle factor

The Revelle factor (buffer factor) is the ratio of instantaneous change in carbon dioxide (CO2) to the change in total dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), and is a measure of the resistance to atmospheric CO2 being absorbed by the ocean surface layer. The buffer factor is used to examine the distribution of CO2 between the atmosphere and the ocean, and measures the amount of CO2 that can be dissolved in the mixed surface layer. It is named after the oceanographer Roger Revelle. The importance of his work was that he found human produced CO2 would not be easily absorbed by the oceans. Revelle was one of a long line of scientists who first considered human-induced global warming and climate change, including Joseph Fourier, John Tyndall, Svante Arrhenius, Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin, Guy Stewart Callendar, Norman A Phillips, Maurice Ewing, William Donn, and Gilbert Plass. The Revelle factor (buffer factor) is the ratio of instantaneous change in carbon dioxide (CO2) to the change in total dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), and is a measure of the resistance to atmospheric CO2 being absorbed by the ocean surface layer. The buffer factor is used to examine the distribution of CO2 between the atmosphere and the ocean, and measures the amount of CO2 that can be dissolved in the mixed surface layer. It is named after the oceanographer Roger Revelle. The importance of his work was that he found human produced CO2 would not be easily absorbed by the oceans. Revelle was one of a long line of scientists who first considered human-induced global warming and climate change, including Joseph Fourier, John Tyndall, Svante Arrhenius, Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin, Guy Stewart Callendar, Norman A Phillips, Maurice Ewing, William Donn, and Gilbert Plass. Revelle factor = (Δ / ) / (Δ / ) where DIC is dissolved inorganic carbon. Δ / is the instantaneous change in pCO2 and Δ / is the instantaneous change in DIC. In order to enter the ocean, carbon dioxide gas has to partition into one of the components of carbonic acid: carbonate ion, bicarbonate ion, or protonated carbonic acid, and the product of these many chemical dissociation constants factors into a 'back-pressure' that limits how fast the carbon dioxide can enter the surface ocean. The species of DIC present in ocean waters is dependent on the system's alkalinity, and is illustrated by the Bjerrum plot below (Figure 1). Carbonate is dominant in higher pH (basic) environments, whereas carbon dioxide is dominant in lower pH (acidic) environments. Bicarbonate ions are abundant in relatively mid-pH waters. As the pH decreases, most of the DIC will be present as CO2 and hence increases its partial pressure (pCO2), and the buffer factor will increase. An increased buffer factor results in a decreased buffering effect, which could lead to the uptake of more CO2 from the atmosphere, and decreasing the pH even more.