A new study that appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist Susan Solomon, concludes that changes in surface temperature, rainfall and sea level are largely irreversible, even after carbon dioxide emissions have stopped.

The report was compiled using many different models and measurements, concluding that carbon dioxide increases lock in subsequent climate repercussions such as sea level rise, and that the effect can last 1,000 years.

“In the long run, both carbon dioxide loss and heat transfer depend on the same physics of deep-ocean mixing. The two work against each other to keep temperatures almost constant for more than a thousand years, and that makes carbon dioxide unique among the major climate gases,” said Solomon.

These findings don’t factor in geoengineering scenarios that take carbon out of the atmosphere.

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