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30 June 2014
Credit: Andrea Thompson
The world first passed the 400 ppm milestone on May 9, 2013. The first 400 ppm measurement of 2014 came two months earlier. CO2 concentrations at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii, which have been monitored since 1958, have been steadily above that level since the beginning of April, which marked the first full month with an average CO2 level above 400 ppm.
Daily and weekly averages of carbon dioxide concentrations at the Mauna Loa Observatory for the first six months of 2014.
Credit: Scripps Institution of Oceanography
That means it will be the first time in recorded history with this many weeks in a row of such high atmospheric concentrations of CO2.
Given the typical rate of decrease in concentrations, which happens as vegetation in the Northern Hemisphere sucks up CO2, they may only dip consistently below 400 ppm come the third week of July, said Pieter Tans, a climate scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
But plants only pull so much CO2 out of the atmosphere in a given growing season. Each year they leave a growing excess of about 2 ppm behind, which is why the 400 ppm mark came earlier this year than last and will come earlier still next year.
Tans expects the first 400 ppm measurement of 2015 to happen in February, and for concentrations to stay above that mark through July — a full six months. In just another year or so of CO2 building in the atmosphere, the world will be above 400 ppm year-round.
“As long as human society continues to emit CO2 from burning fossil fuels, CO2 in the atmosphere and oceans will continue to increase,” Pieter Tans said.
“It is urgent that we find a way to transition to non-carbon fuels as our source of primary energy,” said Tans
NASA Atmospheric Infrared Sounder or AIRS is part of a constellation of satellites that make up NASA's Earth Observing System. AIRS uses cutting edge infrared technology to create three-dimensional maps of air and surface temperature, water vapor, and cloud properties.
The changes in global distribution and variation of the concentration of mid-tropospheric carbon dioxide recorded by AIRS over the past 10 years are shown as follows:
- Jan 2004
- Jan 2009
- Jan 2014
Jan 2004
Jan 2009
Jan 2014
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Aslicnova Renewables
151 Chin Swee Road #14-01, Manhattan House, Singapore 169876
ph: +65 6235 0898
fax: +65 6734 9798
alt: +65 9675 1783
sales