If you follow science news, this will probably sound familiar.
In May 2019, when atmospheric carbon dioxide reached its yearly peak, it set a record. The May average concentration of the greenhouse gas was 414.7 parts per million (ppm), as observed at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory in Hawaii. That was the highest seasonal peak in 61 years, and the seventh consecutive year with a steep increase, according to NOAA and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
The Mauna Loa Observatory has been measuring carbon dioxide since 1958. The remote location (high on a volcano) and scarce vegetation make it a good place to monitor carbon dioxide because it does not have much interference from local sources of the gas. (There are occasional volcanic emissions, but scientists can easily monitor and filter them out.) Mauna Loa is part of a globally distributed network of air sampling sites that measure how much carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere.
The broad consensus among climate scientists is that increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are causing temperatures to warm, sea levels to rise, oceans to grow more acidic, and rainstorms, droughts, floods and fires to become more severe. Here are six less widely known but interesting things to know about carbon dioxide.
The rate of increase is accelerating.
For decades, carbon dioxide concentrations have been increasing every year. In the 1960s, Mauna Loa saw annual increases around 0.8 ppm per year. By the 1980s and 1990s, the growth rate was up to 1.5 ppm year. Now it is above 2 ppm per year. There is “abundant and conclusive evidence” that the acceleration is caused by increased emissions, according to Pieter Tans, senior scientist with NOAA’s Global Monitoring Division.
Scientists have detailed records of atmospheric carbon dioxide that go back 800,000 years.
To understand carbon dioxide variations prior to 1958, scientists rely on ice cores. Researchers have drilled deep into icepack in Antarctica and Greenland and taken samples of ice that are thousands of years old. That old ice contains trapped air bubbles that make it possible for scientists to reconstruct past carbon dioxide levels. The video below, produced by NOAA, illustrates this data set in beautiful detail. Notice how the variations and seasonal “noise” in the observations at short time scales fade away as you look at longer time scales.
CO2 is not evenly distributed.
Satellite observations show carbon dioxide in the air can be somewhat patchy, with high concentrations in some places and lower concentrations in others. For instance, the map below shows carbon dioxide levels for May 2013 in the mid-troposphere, the part of the atmosphere where most weather occurs. At the time there was more carbon dioxide in the northern hemisphere because crops, grasses, and trees hadn’t greened up yet and absorbed some of the gas. The transport and distribution of CO2 throughout the atmosphere is controlled by the jet stream, large weather systems, and other large-scale atmospheric circulations. This patchiness has raised interesting questions about how carbon dioxide is transported from one part of the atmosphere to another—both horizontally and vertically.
Despite the patchiness, there is still lots of mixing.
In this animation from NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio, big plumes of carbon dioxide stream from cities in North America, Asia, and Europe. They also rise from areas with active crop fires or wildfires. Yet these plumes quickly get mixed as they rise and encounter high-altitude winds. In the visualization, reds and yellows show regions of higher than average CO2, while blues show regions lower than average. The pulsing of the data is caused by the day/night cycle of plant photosynthesis at the ground. This view highlights carbon dioxide emissions from crop fires in South America and Africa. The carbon dioxide can be transported over long distances, but notice how mountains can block the flow of the gas.
Carbon dioxide peaks during the Northern Hemisphere spring.
You’ll notice that there is a distinct sawtooth pattern in charts that show how carbon dioxide is changing over time. There are peaks and dips in carbon dioxide caused by seasonal changes in vegetation. Plants, trees, and crops absorb carbon dioxide, so seasons with more vegetation have lower levels of the gas. Carbon dioxide concentrations typically peak in April and May because decomposing leaves in forests in the Northern Hemisphere (particularly Canada and Russia) have been adding carbon dioxide to the air all winter, while new leaves have not yet sprouted and absorbed much of the gas. In the chart and maps below, the ebb and flow of the carbon cycle is visible by comparing the monthly changes in carbon dioxide with the globe’s net primary productivity, a measure of how much carbon dioxide vegetation consume during photosynthesis minus the amount they release during respiration. Notice that carbon dioxide dips in Northern Hemisphere summer.
It isn’t just about what is happening in the atmosphere.
Most of Earth’s carbon—about 65,500 billion metric tons—is stored in rocks. The rest resides in the ocean, atmosphere, plants, soil, and fossil fuels. Carbon flows between each reservoir in the carbon cycle, which has slow and fast components. Any change in the cycle that shifts carbon out of one reservoir puts more carbon into other reservoirs. Any changes that put more carbon gases into the atmosphere result in warmer air temperatures. That’s why burning fossil fuels or wildfires are not the only factors determining what happens with atmospheric carbon dioxide. Things like the activity of phytoplankton, the health of the world’s forests, and the ways we change the landscapes through farming or building can play critical roles as well. Read more about the carbon cycle here.
Tags: carbon, carbon dioxide, NASA
The world needs to start working to fix this problem. air pollution will be the end of our world, but no one cares about it. We need strong regulations and electro cars, as soon as we will taking care of this we will have more time on this planet.
Vazha
Let’s put things in perspective. 410 ppm equals 0.0415% of CO2
The annual growth is 3 ppm which equals 0.0003%
I wish people would stop panicking over nothing. Media and scientists scare people in order to get more money. Making people, not worry for long, but desensitized.
It’s a fad and goes in waves. Flu, environment, terrorism, asteroids, nuclear power and some ancient calendar, to mention but a few. In some years we will have something new to scaring us. This is just a part of being human.
There might be a climate change coming. It’s about time. We have had 10 000 years of stable weather and before that it was all but stable. Nature is just fickle. Stop worrying about imaginary ghosts and take action in crises that actually exists. Hunger, famine, war, disease, even bullying is more important.
But let’s say that we are to blame for the climate change. Considering the history of humanity, do we really deserve to be preserved?
From ice core data, 410 ppm measly as it may be, means we go to 3.5C above the pre industrial mean.
At 1C we are already experiencing massive changes, this fad will ruin us.
The planet will survive, civilization as we know it probably NOT.
Rationality in your case is not reality, wake up and realise we ALL need to work together to future proof the planet.
The comment about scientist making money from climate change, is insulting and small minded.
If you spray 4 inches of PUR foam
under you roof, what percentage of
the total mass of the house would
it represent? And what would be it’s
heat insulation effect?
You are dismissing the problem
based on wrong assumptions.
You irrational idiot. You think scientists are making vast amounts of money out of this. Grow up. They’re teachers as well they don’t need climate change to make a living. So who’s paying you to write the pathetic rubbish.
I had fun reading this and it held a lot of information for me to learn!!