Influence of natural and anthropogenic carbon dioxide sequestration on global warming

The increase in the global surface temperature is influenced by several factors including anthropogenic and natural emissions of CO₂, and the ability of natural sequestration reservoirs in the Earth's oceans and land to absorb and store it. The CO₂ absorption in these reservoirs is sensitive to changes in the global temperature and the atmospheric CO₂ concentration, thus creating a feedback loop in the Earth's ecosystem, which complicates predictions of the overall impact of rising atmospheric CO₂ levels on global warming. Here, we model this interaction through a positive feedback loop and utilize general circulation models (GCM) to quantify the coupling between the carbon-cycle and the global temperature. We validate the model by comparing its predictions with those from high fidelity simulations and historical records. Thereafter, we investigate the impact of anthropogenic CO₂ sequestration on lowering the rate of increase in the global temperature and find that a reduction in global warming is more sensitive to larger sequestration fractions. Thus, an inordinately large fraction of CO₂ emissions would have to be sequestered to significantly impact global warming.