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A Climate Feedback Mechanism Involving Oceanic Upwelling, Atmospheric Co2 and Water Vapour

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Variations in the Global Water Budget

Abstract

Two major problems of climatic history on time scales of 1–103 years have commanded recent attention, namely the abrupt transitions (of less than 100 years duration) between warm and cold phases, and the apparently simultaneous global increase or decrease of sensible heat flux and evaporation during glacial (cold) and interglacial (warm) phases, respectively. A global geophysical feedback mechanism is proposed, based on recent evidence relating to oceanic upwelling (and downwelling). These data indicate a simultaneous increase or decrease in the atmospheric content of carbon dioxide and water vapour, both of which are responsible for changes in the ‘greenhouse effect’ in response to changes in the intensity of upwelling. Quantitative estimates are given of the variations in oceanic evaporation during the transition between the late-glacial and the Holocene. This feedback mechanism probably has caused significant changes of atmospheric CO2 and H2O on a time scale of about 100 years, leading to abrupt climatic fluctuations and marked variations in the heat budget of the ocean-atmosphere system.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Meteorologisches Institut, Universität Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany

    H. Flohn

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  1. H. Flohn
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, University of Oxford, UK

    Alayne Street-Perrott

  2. Institute of Hydrology, Wallingford, UK

    Max Beran

  3. Royal Meteorological Society, UK

    Robert Ratcliffe

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© 1983 D. Reidel Publishing Company

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Flohn, H. (1983). A Climate Feedback Mechanism Involving Oceanic Upwelling, Atmospheric Co2 and Water Vapour. In: Street-Perrott, A., Beran, M., Ratcliffe, R. (eds) Variations in the Global Water Budget. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6954-4_31

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6954-4_31

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-009-6956-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-009-6954-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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