In early April, GML typically releases a preliminary estimate of the global annual atmospheric increase for key greenhouse gases from January 1st in one year to January 1st in the next year. That would represent an increase of about 119 ppb, or 6 percent, since 2000. The global average burden of methane for December 2020, the last month for which data has been analyzed, was 1892.3 ppb. NOAA’s preliminary analysis showed the annual increase in atmospheric methane for 2020 was 14.7 parts per billion (ppb), which is the largest annual increase recorded since systematic measurements began in 1983. Methane levels also surgedĪnalysis of samples from 2020 also showed a significant jump in the atmospheric burden of methane, which is far less abundant but 28 times more potent than CO 2 at trapping heat over a 100-year time frame. These measurements are incorporated into the Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network and are a vital reference widely used by international climate researchers. The Global Monitoring Laboratory makes highly accurate measurements of the three major greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, from four baseline observatories in Hawaii, Alaska, American Samoa, and the South Pole, and from samples collected by volunteers at more than 50 other cooperative sampling sites around the world. “If we want to mitigate the worst impacts, it’s going to take a deliberate focus on reducing fossil fuels emissions to near zero – and even then we’ll need to look for ways to further remove greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere.” “Human activity is driving climate change,” said Colm Sweeney, assistant deputy director of the Global Monitoring Lab. The atmospheric burden of CO 2 is now comparable to where it was during the Mid-Pliocene Warm Period around 3.6 million years ago, when concentrations of carbon dioxide ranged from about 380 to 450 parts per million. During that time sea level was about 78 feet higher than today, the average temperature was 7 degrees Fahrenheit higher than in pre-industrial times, and studies indicate large forests occupied areas of the Arctic that are now tundra. Since 2000, the global CO2 average has grown by 43.5 ppm, an increase of 12 percent. Without the economic slowdown, the 2020 increase would have been the highest on record, according to Pieter Tans, senior scientist at NOAA’s Global Monitoring Laboratory. The economic recession was estimated to have reduced carbon emissions by about 7 percent during 2020. Economic slowdown prevented a record increase in CO 2 The annual mean at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii was 414.4 ppm during 2020. The global rate of increase was the fifth-highest in NOAA’s 63-year record, following 1987, 1998, 20. The global surface average for carbon dioxide (CO 2), calculated from measurements collected at NOAA’s remote sampling locations, was 412.5 parts per million (ppm) in 2020, rising by 2.6 ppm during the year. Levels of the two most important anthropogenic greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and methane, continued their unrelenting rise in 2020 despite the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic response, NOAA announced today. Carbon dioxide levels are now higher than at anytime in the past 3.6 million years
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