One of the main drivers of extreme heat Construction within Earth’s atmosphere has reached levels beyond anything humans have ever experienced, officials announced Thursday. Carbon dioxidegas that accounts for most of global warming caused by human activities, is accumulating “faster than ever,” scientists from NOAA, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of California San Diego found.
“During the last year, we have experienced it the hottest year on record, the hottest ocean temperatures on record, and a seemingly endless string of heat waves, droughts, floods, wildfires and storms,” NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad said in a press release. “We are now finding that levels of Atmospheric CO2 is increasing faster. than ever.”
Susan Cobb/NOAA Research
Researchers measured levels of carbon dioxide, or CO2, at the Mauna Loa Base Atmospheric Observatory. They found that atmospheric levels of the gas reached a seasonal peak of just under 427 parts per million in May — an increase of 2.9 ppm since May 2023 and the fifth largest annual increase in 50 years of record-keeping.
He also noted that the last two years saw the biggest jump in the peak of May – when CO2 levels are at their highest in the Northern Hemisphere. John Miller, a NOAA carbon cycle scientist, said the jump likely comes from the continued rampant burning of fossil fuels, as well as El Nino conditions making it more difficult for the planet to absorb CO2.
NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory
The increase in carbon dioxide levels at the measuring station also exceeded the global average set last year, which was a record 419.3 ppm – 50% higher than before the Industrial Revolution. However, NOAA noted that their observations were taken at the observatory specifically and do not “capture CO2 changes across the globe,” although global measurements have been consistent without those at Mauna Loa.
CO2 measurements ‘sending ominous signs’
In its news release, NOAA said the measurements “are sending ominous signs.”
“Not only is CO2 now at its highest level in millions of years, it’s also increasing faster than ever,” Ralph Keeling, director of Scripps’ CO2 program, said in the release. “Each year it reaches a higher peak due to the burning of fossil fuels, which releases pollution in the form of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Fossil fuel pollution continues to grow, just like garbage in a landfill.”
Carbon dioxide “acts like a blanket in the atmosphere,” NOAA explained — much like other greenhouse gases that amplify the sun’s heat toward Earth’s surface. And while carbon dioxide is essential in keeping global temperatures above freezing, such high concentrations raise temperatures beyond comfort and safety levels.
This is the warm up driving extreme weather events and consequences are already being felt, with deadly floods, heat waves and droughts devastate communities around the world and agriculture seeing difficult shifts.
The news from NOAA comes a day after the European Union’s climate change service, Copernicus, announced that Earth has now hit 12 months in a row with record temperaturesa trend with “no sign on the horizon of a change.”
“We are living in unprecedented times… This string of hotter months will be remembered as relatively cold,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus.