Antarctic observatories register 400 parts per million of carbon dioxide for the first time
One by one, the observatories sounded the alarm in the past few years—from the peak of Mauna Loa in Hawaii, and the top of the Greenland ice sheet—as the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere crept above 400 parts per million (ppm).
The last alarm bells went off this week, when scientists announced that the Halley Research Station in Antarctica, as well as a monitoring post at the geographic South Pole, both located amid the most pristine air on the planet, have now passed the 400 ppm mark.In other words, at every location on Earth where scientists routinely monitor carbon dioxide levels, we are now entering uncharted territory for humanity.
According to Pieter Tans, the lead scientist for the Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network, 400 ppm is the highest level that carbon dioxide levels have reached in at least 4 million years.
"This is the first time a sustained reading of 400 ppm, over the period of a day, has been recorded at a research station on the ice," according to a press release from the British Antarctic Survey.
http://mashable.com/2016/06/17/carbon-highest-4-million-years/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link#zugj3NBT65qh
