[FRIAM] More questions on climate change

[Robert Cordingley]

Since there's been a fair amount of climate change discussion here...

Does anyone know of, or has anyone seen reports on the rate of CO2 
release that __results__ from global warming, as tundra melt and 
decomposes, as sea waters warm and are able to dissolve less gases, 
etc.?  How does that rate compare with anthropogenic atmospheric CO2?  
Is it possible the CO2 levels might be intrinsically unstable until we 
reach some new higher plateau?  I think Al Gore's presentation refers to 
a possible threshold (of no return) - same thing.

There was an interesting NOVA Science Now on PBS 
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/3318/01.html) that described a 
theory/hypothesis of the cause of the Permian mass extinction 250 
million years ago and linked it to volcanism/CO2/warming and anaerobic 
seas that generated large quantities of the toxic H2S (there is an 
anaerobic lake in central NY state, as an example).  It didn't say how 
the seas returned to their aerobic state and the website says it's a 
puzzle requiring more research.  Lee Kump had a computer model of the 
extinction that included the life forms of the time to explain how it 
all came about.

If anyone has references to readings on either of these subjects I'd be 
grateful.

Thanks,
Robert C.
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