World carbon dioxide levels highest for 650,000 years, says US report
Pastor Dale Morgan
*World carbon dioxide levels highest for 650,000 years, says US report*
· Rise in chief greenhouse gas worse than feared
· Earth may be losing ability to absorb CO2, say scientists
* David Adam, environment correspondent
* The Guardian,
* Tuesday May 13 2008
The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached a
record high, according to the latest figures, renewing fears that
climate change could begin to slide out of control.
Scientists at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii say that CO2 levels in
the atmosphere now stand at 387 parts per million (ppm), up almost 40%
since the industrial revolution and the highest for at least the last
650,000 years.
The figures, published by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration on its website, also confirm that carbon dioxide, the
chief greenhouse gas, is accumulating in the atmosphere faster than
expected. The annual mean growth rate for 2007 was 2.14ppm - the fourth
year in the last six to see an annual rise greater than 2ppm. From 1970
to 2000, the concentration rose by about 1.5ppm each year, but since
2000 the annual rise has leapt to an average 2.1ppm.
Scientists say the shift could indicate that the Earth is losing its
natural ability to soak up billions of tonnes of CO2 each year. Climate
models assume that about half our future emissions will be reabsorbed by
forests and oceans, but the new figures confirm this may be too
optimistic. If more of our carbon pollution stays in the atmosphere, it
means emissions will have to be cut by more than is currently projected
to prevent dangerous levels of global warming.
Martin Parry, co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change's working group on impacts, said: "Despite all the talk, the
situation is getting worse. Levels of greenhouse gases continue to rise
in the atmosphere and the rate of that rise is accelerating. We are
already seeing the impacts of climate change and the scale of those
impacts will also accelerate, until we decide to do something about it."
Perched some 11,000ft up a volcano, the Mauna Loa observatory has been
measuring carbon dioxide in the atmosphere since 1958. It is regarded as
producing among the most reliable data sets because of its remote
location, far from any possible source of the gas that could confuse the
sensors.
Over the decades, the Mauna Loa readings, made famous in Al Gore's
documentary An Inconvenient Truth, show the CO2 level rising and falling
each year as foliage across the northern hemisphere blooms in spring and
recedes in autumn. But they also show an upward trend as human emissions
pour into the atmosphere, and each spring, the total CO2 level creeps
above the previous year's high to set a new record.
Robin Oakley, head of Greenpeace's climate change campaign, said: "We're
now witnessing a key moment in the climate change story, and it's not
good news. The last time the atmosphere was this choked with CO2 humans
were yet to evolve as a species. To even consider building new runways
and coal-fired power stations at this juncture in history is an
unpardonable folly, but Gordon Brown seems determined to stumble forward
regardless with his ill-conceived plans in the face of the science and
widespread public opposition."
A study last year suggested that the recent surge in atmospheric CO2
levels was down to three processes: growth in the world economy, heavy
use of coal in China, and a weakening of natural "sinks", forests, seas
and soils that absorb carbon. The scientists said the increase was 35%
larger than they expected.
They said about half of the carbon surge was down to the Chinese
reliance on coal, which has forced up the carbon intensity of the
overall world economy since 2000, reversing a trend of increasing energy
efficiency since the 1970s.