Carbon dioxide spikes to critical record, halfway to doubling preindustrial levels.
The concentration of the heat-trapping gas topped 420 parts per million, while the planet has warmed more than two degrees.
'For the first time in recorded history, the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, or CO2, was measured at more than 420 parts per million at the Mauna Loa Observatory on the Big Island of Hawaii. Its a disconcerting milestone in the human-induced warming of the planet, around the halfway point on our path toward doubling preindustrial CO2 levels.
The research station, at an elevation of 11,135 feet on the summit of a picturesque volcano, has been monitoring the weather and chemistry of the atmosphere continuously since the 1950s. Its location allows it to sample some of the purest air available, providing scientists an untainted representation of how humans are irreversibly influencing climate systems.
When the station began collecting CO2 measurements in the late 1950s, atmospheric CO2 concentration sat at around 315 parts per million. On Saturday, the daily average was pegged at 421.21 parts per million the first time in human history that number has been so high. Previously, it had never exceeded 420 parts per million.
Were completely certain that the increase in CO2 is warming the planet, Kate Marvel, a climate scientist at NASA, wrote in an email. Im even more certain CO2 causes global heating than I am that smoking causes cancer. The world is already more than 2 [degrees Fahrenheit] warmer than it was before the Industrial Revolution.'>>>
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2021/04/05/atmospheric-co2-concentration-record/?