CO2 levels at the highest since 3 million years



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CO2 emissions from human activities are the main cause of climate change.

The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere today is "unnatural," CNN Senior Matteo Willeit told CNN.

Willeit said that according to the simulation, CO2 levels should not exceed 280 parts per million (ppm) without human activity, but that they are currently reaching 410 ppm and are increasing.

Global average temperatures have risen much faster than ever since the Pliocene, Willeit added.

During this period, they have never exceeded pre-industrial levels by more than 2 ° C, but current models show that temperatures will increase by 4 ° C between 2000 and 2100 if no action is taken for reduce emissions, he said.

In unknown territory

Willeit said rising CO2 levels push the Earth beyond the climatic conditions never before seen by humans.

If CO2 levels and temperatures continue to rise, "our planet will change" and the sea level will rise by one or two meters in the next 200 years, he added.

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This research is not the first to suggest that current CO2 levels are the highest since the Pliocene, but Potsdam researchers claim that their work is the first to combine data on ocean floor sediments with analysis of past ice volumes, and are more sophisticated than others. model studies.

Scientists gathered Wednesday in London by the Royal Meteorological Society to discuss the Pliocene climate in London, explained how the sedimentary records and plant fossils of Antarctica show that during the Pliocene period, Arctic summer temperatures were 14 ° C higher than today.

Professor Martin Siegert, of Imperial College London, said during the event that his findings offered a vision of the future of the Earth if drastic measures were not taken for fight against global warming.

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