Impacts of Changes in Atmospheric O2 on Human Physiology. Is There a Basis for Concern?
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Impacts of Changes in Atmospheric O2 on Human Physiology. Is There a Basis for Concern? / Keeling, Ralph F.; Powell, Frank L.; Shaffer, Gary; Robbins, Peter A.; Simonson, Tatum S.
In: Frontiers in Physiology, Vol. 12, 571137, 02.03.2021.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Impacts of Changes in Atmospheric O2 on Human Physiology. Is There a Basis for Concern?
AU - Keeling, Ralph F.
AU - Powell, Frank L.
AU - Shaffer, Gary
AU - Robbins, Peter A.
AU - Simonson, Tatum S.
PY - 2021/3/2
Y1 - 2021/3/2
N2 - Concern is often voiced over the ongoing loss of atmospheric O-2. This loss, which is caused by fossil-fuel burning but also influenced by other processes, is likely to continue at least for the next few centuries. We argue that this loss is quite well understood, and the eventual decrease is bounded by the fossil-fuel resource base. Because the atmospheric O-2 reservoir is so large, the predicted relative drop in O-2 is very small even for extreme scenarios of future fossil-fuel usage which produce increases in atmospheric CO2 sufficient to cause catastrophic climate changes. At sea level, the ultimate drop in oxygen partial pressure will be less than 2.5 mm Hg out of a baseline of 159 mmHg. The drop by year 2300 is likely to be between 0.5 and 1.3 mmHg. The implications for normal human health is negligible because respiratory O-2 consumption in healthy individuals is only weakly dependent on ambient partial pressure, especially at sea level. The impacts on top athlete performance, on disease, on reproduction, and on cognition, will also be very small. For people living at higher elevations, the implications of this loss will be even smaller, because of a counteracting increase in barometric pressure at higher elevations due to global warming.
AB - Concern is often voiced over the ongoing loss of atmospheric O-2. This loss, which is caused by fossil-fuel burning but also influenced by other processes, is likely to continue at least for the next few centuries. We argue that this loss is quite well understood, and the eventual decrease is bounded by the fossil-fuel resource base. Because the atmospheric O-2 reservoir is so large, the predicted relative drop in O-2 is very small even for extreme scenarios of future fossil-fuel usage which produce increases in atmospheric CO2 sufficient to cause catastrophic climate changes. At sea level, the ultimate drop in oxygen partial pressure will be less than 2.5 mm Hg out of a baseline of 159 mmHg. The drop by year 2300 is likely to be between 0.5 and 1.3 mmHg. The implications for normal human health is negligible because respiratory O-2 consumption in healthy individuals is only weakly dependent on ambient partial pressure, especially at sea level. The impacts on top athlete performance, on disease, on reproduction, and on cognition, will also be very small. For people living at higher elevations, the implications of this loss will be even smaller, because of a counteracting increase in barometric pressure at higher elevations due to global warming.
KW - atmospheric oxygen
KW - fossil fuels
KW - global change
KW - evolution
KW - V
KW - O 2max
KW - human health
KW - hypoxia
KW - high altitude
U2 - 10.3389/fphys.2021.571137
DO - 10.3389/fphys.2021.571137
M3 - Review
C2 - 33737880
VL - 12
JO - Frontiers in Physiology
JF - Frontiers in Physiology
SN - 1664-042X
M1 - 571137
ER -
ID: 258764421