Carbon dioxide levels hit 50% higher than preindustrial time, AP, 6/7/21
The annual peak of global heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the air has reached another dangerous milestone: 50 percent higher than when the industrial age began.
And the average rate of increase is faster than ever, scientist reported Monday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the average carbon dioxide level for May was 419.13 parts per million. That’s 1.82 parts per million higher than May 2020 and 50% higher than the stable pre-industrial levels of 280 parts per million, said NOAA climate scientist Pieter Tans.
The 10-year average rate of increase also set a record, now up to 2.4 parts per million per year.
“Carbon dioxide going up in a few decades like that is extremely unusual,” Tans said. “For example, when the Earth climbed out of the last ice age, carbon dioxide increased by about 80 parts per million and it took the Earth system, the natural system, 6,000 years. We have a much larger increase in the last few decades.”
By comparison, it has taken only 42 years, from 1979 to 2021, to increase carbon dioxide by that same amount.
MORE:
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2021/06/07/carbon-dioxide-levels-hit-50-higher-than-preindustrial-time
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It's been stuck in my head for at least 20 years that we were 40-something percent above pre-industrial levels. Now I'll have to unstick that factoid and stick in 50-something percent.
