NOAA - 2015 Atmospheric CO2 Increase Biggest On Record; 200X Faster Than @ End Of Last Ice Age
Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide last year rose by the biggest margin since records began, according to a US federal science agency .
Fossil fuel burning and a strong El Nino weather pattern pushed CO2 levels 3.05 parts per million on a year earlier to 402.6 ppm, as measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, NOAA said on Wednesday.
“Carbon dioxide levels are increasing faster than they have in hundreds of thousands of years,” said Pieter Tans, lead scientist at NOAA’s Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network. “It’s explosive compared to natural processes.” The big jump in CO2 broke a record held since 1998, also a powerful El Nino year.
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CO2 levels in the air have increased over 40% since 1880, as industry ramped up emissions. The build-up of those gases traps heat, which warm the planet and stoke extreme weather. Last year was the hottest year on record, according to multiple weather agencies. The last time the Earth experienced such a sustained CO2 rise was between 17,000 and 11,000 years ago, in which period CO2 jumped by 80ppm. Today’s rate is 200 times faster, said Tans.
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http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/03/10/co2-levels-make-largest-annual-leap-in-56-years-noaa/
