Carbon dioxide reaches record levels in atmosphere and causes climate change: NPR

The amount of planet-warming carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere has hit a new record as humanity struggles to rein in greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels.

The new record comes as tens of millions of people in the United States are dealing with extreme weather. Much of the western US is experiencing the first major heat wave of the year, driving temperatures 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit above normal for June. In the Southwest, temperatures stay well above 100 degrees.

Such extreme, prolonged heat is directly linked to human-caused climate change, scientists say. Any excess carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere traps heat and leads to more intense, more frequent and longer lasting heat waves and other extreme weather such as powerful hurricanes and heavy rain storms.

“Over the past year, we’ve had the hottest year on record, record ocean temperatures, and a seemingly endless string of heat waves, droughts, floods, wildfires and storms,” ​​said Rick Spinrad, National Oceanic Administrator. and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in a statement. “We need to recognize that these are clear signals of the damage that carbon dioxide pollution is doing to the climate system and take swift action to reduce fossil fuel consumption as quickly as possible.”

The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is measured in parts per million and measurements are taken at an observatory in Hawaii. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations peak in May because the gas accumulates more in the winter months, when there are fewer leaves around the world to absorb it.

This May, atmospheric CO2 concentration reached nearly 427 ppm, an increase of about 3 ppm compared to last year’s peak. This is one of the biggest annual jumps on record, according to scientists.

The vast majority of the planet’s warming atmospheric pollution comes from humans burning fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal.

The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been steadily increasing since scientists began taking routine measurements in 1958. At that time, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere was 313 ppm, slightly higher than in the 19th century, when the industrial revolution was fueled by widespread use of fossil fuels .

But in recent years, the growth of CO2 in the atmosphere has accelerated. According to scientists from NOAA and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of San Diego, CO2 concentrations increased faster in the first four months of this year than in the first four months of any previous year.

Although routine, direct measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere began in the 1950s, scientists are able to use other methods to estimate how much carbon dioxide was in the atmosphere millions of years ago. And there is more carbon dioxide now than in millions of years.

Rising CO2 levels underscore how far humanity’s collective efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and switch to renewable energy sources fall short of what would be needed to control global temperatures. In the US, greenhouse gas emissions fell slightly last year, but these declines do not put the country on track to meet the climate goals set by the Biden administration.