Interaction of the Oceans with Greenhouse Gases and Atmospheric Aerosols: UNEP Regional Seas Reports and Studies No. 94

The Sixth Session of the GESAMP Working Group on the Interchange of Pollutants between the Atmosphere and the Oceans stressed the impact of contaminants on climate. This included the effects of such "greenhouse" gases as CO2 increasing temperature and aerosols decreasing temperature, as well as contaminants and processes at the air-sea interface that affect the interchange of energy and material which could affect climate regionally and even globally. Carbon dioxide is clearly increasing in the atmosphere at the rate of about 1 ppmv (parts per million by volume) per year, starting at 315 ppmv in 1958 when good records commenced. It is estimated that the near-surface global temperature will increase by 1.5° to 45°K with a doubling of the atmospheric CO2.