Average monthly carbon dioxide (CO2) levels exceeded 420 parts per million (ppm) in April, the highest high since accurate measurements began 64 years ago.
Last year was the first year that atmospheric CO2 exceeded pre-industrial revolution levels by more than 50 percent. (Photo: taken from trt.net.tr)
For the first time on record, Earth’s carbon dioxide levels have reached the highest levels in human history, new data shows, originally released by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California at Los Angeles, San Diego, and subsequently the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) were supported by records from San Diego.
According to both agencies, monthly average levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) exceeded 420 parts per million (ppm) in April, its highest high since accurate measurements began 64 years ago, and even reached 421.33 ppm in one day last week as a greenhouse gas die Emissions continue to rise worldwide.
Data from the UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography reported that the monthly mean baseline carbon dioxide (CO2) level for April 2022 at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii was 420.02 ppm. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) records for the first few days of May showed that on May 4, 2022, levels reached 421.33 ppm.
Data collected at the mountain observatory on Mauna Loa in Hawaii also confirmed that last year was the first in which atmospheric CO2 exceeded pre-industrial revolution levels by more than 50 percent. These are record numbers in all of human history.
Twenty years ago, the highest month of the year was 375.93 parts per million. The annual increase in CO2 concentration (ppm/year) has accelerated in recent years, so the COVID-19 pandemic has not halted the decline in CO2 emissions due to the partial cessation of activity or the decline in goods transportation and travelers worldwide caused by the pandemic.
The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere does not depend on the annual emissions, but on the total emissions that have accumulated in the atmosphere. Unfortunately for our planet, CO2 is a long-lived gas and is estimated to continue to irreversibly warm the atmosphere due to the effects of greenhouse gases.
“May will likely be even higher,” said Axios Pieter Tans, senior scientist at NOAA’s Climate Monitoring and Diagnostic Laboratory. “We really need to focus on reducing emissions and we haven’t been very successful globally because the rate of increase in CO2 is still at the rate it has been for the past decade.”
