Carbon dioxide levels at Mauna Loa in Hawaii hit a record high

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The last time Earth has seen such levels of CO2 millions of years ago.
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Carbon dioxide – according to scientists, is the main cause of global warming – has again reached a record level last month, scientists said Tuesday.

The Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii reached an average of 414.8 parts per million in May, marking a new milestone in the climate. This level has not been seen in human history and is also higher than ever since millions of years ago.

The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere is increasing every year and its rate is accelerating, scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

This is the highest seasonal peak recorded in 61 years on the largest volcano in Hawaii, and the seventh consecutive year of sharp increase in CO2 concentrations worldwide. The peak of 2019 was 3.5 parts per million higher than the peak of 411.3 ppm reached in May 2018; This is the 2nd highest annual jump ever recorded.

While 414 parts per million may not seem huge, scientists have known for decades that even traces in the atmosphere can raise the temperature of the entire world.

The burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas releases greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere and oceans of the Earth. This excess carbon has caused a rise in temperatures over the last hundred and fifty years, which can not be explained by natural factors, according to scientists.

Over the last 20 years, global temperature has increased about two-thirds of a degree Fahrenheit, NOAA said.

"Many proposals have been made to mitigate global warming, but without a rapid decrease in fossil fuel CO2 emissions, they are almost futile," said Pieter Tans, Senior Scientist at NOAA's Global Monitoring Division.

Carbon dioxide is called a greenhouse gas for its ability to trap solar radiation and keep it confined to the atmosphere.

It is invisible, odorless and colorless, but is responsible for 63% of global warming attributable to all greenhouse gases, according to the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado.

Carbon dioxide levels rise and fall each year, reaching their highest levels in May, and then falling again in the fall, as plants absorb gas.

The increase in gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide is fueling climate change and making "the planet more dangerous and inhospitable for future generations," said the Meteorological Organization. World.

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