Carbon dioxide levels in atmosphere forecast to shatter milestone
Source: The Guardian
Carbon dioxide levels in atmosphere forecast to shatter milestone
Scientists warn that global warming target will be overshot within
two decades, as annual concentrations of CO2 set to pass 400 parts
per million in 2016
Arthur Neslen
Monday 13 June 2016 16.41 BST
Atmospheric concentrations of CO2 will shatter the symbolic barrier of 400 parts per million (ppm) this year and will not fall below it our in our lifetimes, according to a new Met Office study.
Carbon dioxide measurements at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii are forecast to soar by a record 3.1ppm this year – up from an annual average of 2.1ppm – due in large part to the cyclical El Niño weather event in the Pacific, the paper says.
The surge in CO2 levels will be larger than during the last big El Niño in 1997/98, because manmade emissions have increased by 25% since then, boosting the phenomenon’s strength.
The Met Office also attributes around a fifth of the current El Niño’s severity to forest fires, which were started by humans and exacerbated by drought.
The paper’s lead author, Professor Richard Betts of the Met’s Hadley Centre and Exeter University, said the fact that the 400ppm threshold had been breached a year earlier than expected carried a warning for the future.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/13/carbon-dioxide-levels-in-atmosphere-forecast-to-shatter-milestone
Note: The Guardian article links to the paper here but the Nature.com website is down as of this posting.
