NOAA: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, Methane Rise Sharply in 2007

[RedEarth]

The news from NOAA (here) is that all our dawdling on climate action this decade is having real impact on the atmosphere:

Concentrations of CO2 jumped 2.4 ppm in 2007, taking us to 385 ppm (preindustrial levels hovered around 280 through 1850).

That is an increase of 0.6% (or 19 billion tons). If we stay at that growth rate, we’ll be at 465 ppm by 2050 — and that assumes (improbably) that the various carbon sinks don’t keep saturating (see here and here).

Levels of methane (a far more potent greenhouse gas than CO2) rose last year for the first time since 1998, perhaps an early indication of thawing permafrost.

Why this recent jump in methane? NOAA says:


Rapidly growing industrialization in Asia and rising wetland emissions in the Arctic and tropics are the most likely causes of the recent methane increase, said scientist Ed Dlugokencky from NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory


The time to act is yesterday.

http://climateprogress.org/2008/04/24/noaa-atmospheric-carbon-dioxide-methane-rise-sharply-in-2007/

[ladjf]

1. Need to put a big plastic sheet over Washington to cut down on

the methane.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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