By the end of 2018, NOAA’s atmospheric observatory at Mauna Loa recorded the fourth-highest annual growth in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) in 60 years of record-keeping.
By the end of 2018, NOAA’s atmospheric observatory at Mauna Loa recorded the fourth-highest annual growth in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) in 60 years of record-keeping.
Carbon dioxide grew by 2.87 parts per million (ppm) at the mountain top observatory during 2018, jumping from an average of 407.05 ppm on Jan. 1, 2018, to 409.92 on Jan. 1, 2019, according to a new analysis of air samples collected by NOAA’s Global Monitoring Division (GMD).
That means three of the four highest annual increases have occurred in the past four years, said Pieter Tans, senior scientist with GMD.
“At a time when there’s all this talk about how we should be decreasing CO2 emissions, the amount of CO2 we’re putting into the atmosphere is clearly accelerating,” Tans said. “It’s no coincidence that the last four years also had the highest CO2 emissions on record.”
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Image via NOAA.
