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Community => Recreation Commons => Our researchers have made a breakthrough! => Topic started by: Buster's Uncle on September 09, 2014, 03:54:37 pm

Title: UN says CO2 pollution levels at annual record high
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 09, 2014, 03:54:37 pm

UN says CO2 pollution levels at annual record high
Associated Press
By JOHN HEILPRIN  14 minutes ago



WASHINGTON (AP) — Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2013 as increasing levels of man-made pollution transform the planet, the U.N. weather agency said Tuesday.

As the heat-trapping gas blamed for the largest share of global warming, carbon dioxide rose to global concentrations of 396 parts per million last year, the biggest year-to-year change in three decades, the World Meteorological Organization said in an annual report.

That's an increase of 2.9 ppm from the previous year and is 42 percent higher than before the Industrial Age, when levels were about 280 parts per million.

Based on the current rate, the world's carbon dioxide pollution level is expected to cross the 400 ppm threshold by 2016, said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud. That is way beyond the 350 ppm that some scientists and environmental groups promote as a safe level and which was last seen in 1987.

Greenhouse gas emissions are building up so fast that top climate scientists are becoming increasingly skeptical that countries across the globe will meet the goal they set at the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit of limiting global warming to about another 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above current levels.

In a draft report last month the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said it is looking more likely that the world will shoot past that point and by mid-century temperatures will increase by about another 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) compared to temperatures from 1986 to 2005. And by the end of the century that scenario will bring temperatures about 6.7 degrees warmer (3.7 degrees Celsius), it said.

"We know without any doubt that our climate is changing and our weather is becoming more extreme due to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels," Jarraud said. "Time is not on our side, for sure."

To address the challenge, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has invited heads of state and other leaders to a Sept. 23 climate change summit in New York on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly. President Barack Obama has said he will attend to help spur new commitments from governments, industry and civil groups for reducing greenhouse gas emissions ahead of next year's global climate talks in Paris.

The WMO report Tuesday said the rate of ocean acidification, which comes from added carbon absorbed by oceans, "appears unprecedented at least over the last 300 million years."

Between 1990 and 2013, carbon dioxide and other gas emissions caused a 34 percent increase in the warming effect on the climate, the report said.

The warming effect, or "radiative forcing," measures the net difference between the sunlight that the Earth absorbs and the energy it radiates back into space. More absorption leads to higher temperatures.

After carbon dioxide, methane has the biggest effect on climate. Atmospheric concentrations of methane reached a new high of 1,824 parts per billion in 2013, up 153 percent from pre-industrial levels of about 700 parts per billion.

About 40 percent of the methane comes from natural sources such as termites and wetlands, but the rest is due to cattle breeding, rice agriculture, fossil fuel burning, landfills and incineration, according to the agency.


http://news.yahoo.com/un-says-co2-pollution-levels-annual-record-high-085620660.html (http://news.yahoo.com/un-says-co2-pollution-levels-annual-record-high-085620660.html)

Title: 'Alarm bells' as greenhouse gases hit new high: UN
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 09, 2014, 04:03:33 pm

'Alarm bells' as greenhouse gases hit new high: UN
AFP
By Nina Larson  1 hour ago


(http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/bo0iCws3zMf0Xih.6PdoXg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTYzOTtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz05NjA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/50f6ce658fea94e0a63aac0cd41d75cb79f35331.jpg)
Smoke rises from chimneys of a factory in Haubourdin, northern France, on October 31, 2013 (AFP Photo/Philippe Huguen)



Geneva (AFP) - Surging carbon dioxide levels boosted greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to a new high in 2013, amid worrying signs that absorption by land and sea is waning, the UN warned Tuesday.

"An alarm bell is ringing," Michel Jarraud, head of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), told reporters in Geneva.

In its annual report on Earth-warming greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the UN agency said concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide all broke records in 2013.

"We know without any doubt that our climate is changing and our weather is becoming more extreme due to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels," Jarraud said.

"We must reverse this trend by cutting emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases across the board," he said in a statement, and warned: "we are running out of time."

Especially worrying, Jarraud said, was the sharp rise in CO2, by far the main culprit in global warming, to 396 parts per million in the atmosphere last year.


(http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/f0dmcxBs0H7dNZCw6LJxUA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTY1NztweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz05NjA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/8e0a425a75b17747491223952f5d43c34e3fc7cd.jpg)
Cars line up in Beijing as heavy air pollution shrouds the city on February 26, 2014 (AFP Photo/Mark Ralston)


That was 142 percent of levels prior to the year 1750, and marked a hike of 2.9 parts per million between 2012 and 2013 -- the largest annual increase in 30 years.

It was not clear why concentrations rose so sharply, but Jarraud suggested it could be due to a shift in the ability of oceans and the biosphere to absorb emissions.


- 'A worrying signal' -

Oceans swallow about a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, while the biosphere sucks up another quarter, so any change "could potentially have big consequences," he warned.

"Clearly now we have a signal, ... a worrying signal," said Jarraud.


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Scientists take samples of water from floating contraptions used to predict the acidity in the oceans, on June 3, 2010, off the scientific outpost of Ny-Alesund, in Norway (AFP Photo/Martin Bureau)


University of Reading meteorology professor William Collins said the WMO's suggestion that the biosphere may be removing less CO2 as the climate warms was credible, and implied a "future amplification of climate change".

"We can't expect to benefit from this natural removal for ever," he warned.

Tuesday's report came ahead of a September 23 summit called by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to try and build momentum ahead of the 2015 deadline for a historic climate deal to be signed in Paris, to take effect from 2020.

The UN is seeking to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels, but scientists say that on current emission trends, temperatures could be double that by century's end.

"We have the knowledge and we have the tools for action to try to keep temperature increases within two degrees Celsius to give our planet a chance and to give our children and grandchildren a future," Jarraud said, insisting that "pleading ignorance can no longer be an excuse for not acting".


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The world's oceans absorb some four kilos (8.8 pounds) of CO2 per person every day (AFP Photo/Gregory Boissy)


Professor Dave Reay, chair in carbon management at the University of Edinburgh, reacted to the report with dismay.

"This is the litmus test when it comes to our efforts to reduce emissions and on this evidence we are failing," he said.

The findings are especially worrying since CO2 remains in the atmosphere for hundreds of years and in the oceans for even longer.

While the ocean's absorption of CO2 helps limit global warming, "the bad news is that it contributes to the acidification of the ocean," Jarraud said.

Increased acidity not only alters the ocean's ecosystem, but can also reduce its ability to absorb more CO2, he said.

Every day the world's oceans absorb some four kg (8.8 pounds) of CO2 per person, the WMO said, adding that ocean acidification levels were "unprecedented at least over the last 300 million years".

And things will only get worse, said Jarraud.

"Past, present and future CO2 emissions will have a cumulative impact on both global warming and ocean acidification," he said, adding that "the laws of physics are non-negotiable".


http://news.yahoo.com/greenhouse-gas-levels-atmosphere-hit-high-un-073557254.html (http://news.yahoo.com/greenhouse-gas-levels-atmosphere-hit-high-un-073557254.html)

Title: UN says CO2 pollution levels at annual record high
Post by: Buster's Uncle on September 09, 2014, 05:02:13 pm

UN says CO2 pollution levels at annual record high
Associated Press
By JOHN HEILPRIN  35 minutes ago


(http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/DRNUPyoIuvWQEgdAfuX8Ew--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTY1MDtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz05NjA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/3462fb707f7a36235f0f6a7067004e89.jpg)
FILE - This Jan. 23, 2013, file photo, shows a poor air quality sign is posted over a highway, in Salt Lake City. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2013 as increasing levels of man-made pollution transform the planet, the U.N. weather agency said Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)



GENEVA (AP) — Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2013 as increasing levels of man-made pollution transform the planet, the U.N. weather agency said Tuesday.

As the heat-trapping gas blamed for the largest share of global warming, carbon dioxide rose to global concentrations of 396 parts per million last year, the biggest year-to-year change in three decades, the World Meteorological Organization said in an annual report.

That's an increase of 2.9 ppm from the previous year and is 42 percent higher than before the Industrial Age, when levels were about 280 parts per million.

Based on the current rate, the world's carbon dioxide pollution level is expected to cross the 400 ppm threshold by 2016, said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud. That is way beyond the 350 ppm that some scientists and environmental groups promote as a safe level and which was last seen in 1987.

Greenhouse gas emissions are building up so fast that top climate scientists are becoming increasingly skeptical that countries across the globe will meet the goal they set at the 2009 Copenhagen climate summit of limiting global warming to about another 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above current levels.

In a draft report last month the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said it is looking more likely that the world will shoot past that point and by mid-century temperatures will increase by about another 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) compared to temperatures from 1986 to 2005. And by the end of the century that scenario will bring temperatures about 6.7 degrees warmer (3.7 degrees Celsius), it said.


(http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/M59TIROyxO.1DSx3g5dgDA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTY2MDtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz05NjA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/59a1222e7f7936235f0f6a70670011a4.jpg)
In this April 12, 2013 file photo, a woman walks through a neighborhood near a coal-fired power plant in Beijing. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2013 as increasing levels of man-made pollution transform the planet, the U.N. weather agency said Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)


"We know without any doubt that our climate is changing and our weather is becoming more extreme due to human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels," Jarraud said. "Time is not on our side, for sure."

To address the challenge, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has invited heads of state and other leaders to a Sept. 23 climate change summit in New York on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly. President Barack Obama has said he will attend to help spur new commitments from governments, industry and civil groups for reducing greenhouse gas emissions ahead of next year's global climate talks in Paris.

The WMO report Tuesday said the rate of ocean acidification, which comes from added carbon absorbed by oceans, "appears unprecedented at least over the last 300 million years."

Between 1990 and 2013, carbon dioxide and other gas emissions caused a 34 percent increase in the warming effect on the climate, the report said.

The warming effect, or "radiative forcing," measures the net difference between the sunlight that the Earth absorbs and the energy it radiates back into space. More absorption leads to higher temperatures.

After carbon dioxide, methane has the biggest effect on climate. Atmospheric concentrations of methane reached a new high of 1,824 parts per billion in 2013, up 153 percent from pre-industrial levels of about 700 parts per billion.

About 40 percent of the methane comes from natural sources such as termites and wetlands, but the rest is due to cattle breeding, rice agriculture, fossil fuel burning, landfills and incineration, according to the agency.


http://news.yahoo.com/un-says-co2-pollution-levels-annual-record-high-085620660.html (http://news.yahoo.com/un-says-co2-pollution-levels-annual-record-high-085620660.html)