CO2 hits record high level
Atmospheric CO2 Levels Just Hit a Scary New Milestone
What does CO2?
It is significant that so much carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere because CO2 is the most important gas for controlling Earth's temperature. Carbon dioxide, methane, and halocarbons are greenhouse gases that absorb a wide range of energy—including infrared energy (heat) emitted by the Earth—and then re-emit it.
What is current CO2 Concentration?
Carbon dioxide concentrations have shown several cycles of variation from about 180 parts per million during the deep glaciations of the Holocene and Pleistocene to 280 parts per million during the interglacial periods. Following the start of the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric CO
2 concentration increased to over 400 parts per million and continues to increase, causing the phenomenon of global warming. As of April 2018, the average monthly level of CO
2 in Earth's atmosphere exceeded 410 parts per million. The daily average concentration of atmospheric CO
2 at Mauna Loa Observatory first exceeded 400 ppm on 10 May 2013 although this concentration had already been reached in the Arctic in June 2012.[15] It currently constitutes about 0.041% by volume of the atmosphere, (equal to 410 ppm) which corresponds to approximately 3200 billion metric tons of CO
2, containing approximately 870 billion metric tons of carbon. Each part per million by volume of CO
2 in the atmosphere thus represents approximately 2.13 billion metric tons of carbon. The global mean CO
2 concentration is currently rising at a rate of approximately 2 ppm/year and accelerating.There is an annual fluctuation of about 3–9 ppm which is negatively correlated with the Northern Hemisphere's growing season. The Northern Hemisphere dominates the annual cycle of CO
2 concentration because it has much greater land area and plant biomass than the Southern Hemisphere. Concentrations reach a peak in May as the Northern Hemisphere spring greenup begins, and decline to a minimum in October, near the end of the growing season.
Since global warming is attributed to increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases such as CO
2, scientists closely monitor atmospheric CO
2 concentrations and their impact on the present-day biosphere. The National Geographic wrote that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is this high "for the first time in 55 years of measurement—and probably more than 3 million years of Earth history." The current concentration may be the highest in the last 20 million years.
Carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere was measured at a record high of 415 parts per millions (ppm) on Friday, scientists said.
The reading was made by the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, which has maintained a rolling measure of CO2 levels since 1958.
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https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/443389-carbon-dioxide-levels-hit-new-landmark-at-415-ppm-highest-in-human?fbclid=IwAR3liC0D2dpFfol0WpRb07Zz9QaAN9o75C0sVS7vfF8KTx4dbJWi5q4morc
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