Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
The effect of variation of the properties of the sea on the atmospheric CO2 concentration is investigated by using the equilibrium equations of the CO2 system in sea water in their variational form. The general conclusion from this study is that neither temperature nor volume changes of the sea can have been large enough to cause any appreciable change in the atmospheric CO2 concentration, at least not of any climatic importance. It is, however, pointed out that there is a considerable excess of CO2 in the ocean, owing to a combination of biological and gravitational processes, which, if released, would increase the atmospheric concentration by a factor of 5. Serious disturbances in the biological circulation of carbon in the sea in the past may have caused wide fluctuations in the atmospheric CO2, and some possible causes for such disturbances are discussed briefly.
Erik Eriksson (Mon,) studied this question.