How does Henry's Law affect greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere?

Question

Henry's Law states that, at a constant temperature, the amount of a given gas dissolved in a given type and volume of liquid is directly proportional to the partial pressure of that gas in equilibrium with that liquid.

Some argue that this means the ocean has an automatic stabilizing affect on concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere. I have doubts, but would like to hear from people who know more about this than I.

This is a science question, NOT a political one. Please, keep politics out of your answers and stick to the science.

Answer 1

It is true that as atmospheric carbon levels rise, oceanic carbon stocks (in the form of dissolved CO2) will rise as well, somewhat damping the rise in atmospheric CO2 levels for a given discharge rate.

It's important to note, however, that this is fairly well understood and accounted for in climate models.

There are a great many other factors with greater uncertainty; for instance: will higher CO2 levels and temperatures lead to higher plant growth rates, somewhat buffering atmospheric change? Will rising temperatures harm marine environments reducing sequestration by invertibrates? And so on...

Basically you're touching on the very interesting subject of feedbacks and systems theory; specifically you are suggesting (correctly) a negative feedback loop on the climate system. There are also positive feedbacks; for instance higher temperatures lead to melting permafrost, which in turn allows the decomposition of organic matter releasing still more CO2. There are a great many interesting outcomes from this approach to looking at the world, one of which is the rise of chaotic behavior from seemingly simple systems (the so-called butterfly effect).

Answer 2

Here is a good study on that topic:

http://www.rocketscientistsjournal.com