Nature - GHG Levels Rising At Pace Well Above That Of 1990s

[hatrack]

Levels of greenhouse gases are rising faster this decade than they did during the 1990s, according to a new analysis. The research blames the acceleration on a combination of factors, including economic growth, intensive fossil-fuel use and, perhaps most worringly, an apparent decline in the oceans' ability to suck up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Before 2000, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels had been rising by about 1.5 parts per million (p.p.m.) per year. Since the turn of the century, that figure has jumped to 1.9 p.p.m. per year, says Josep Canadell of the Global Carbon Project in Canberra, Australia, who led the new survey. According to their analysis, almost two-thirds of the change is due to increasing world economic activity. Roughly half of the rest is down to increased reliance on high-emission fossil fuels throughout much of the world's economy, with China a significant contributor, Canadell says.

The rest of the observed difference is explained by the worsening performance of the oceans in absorbing carbon dioxide, Canadell's team reports. "Fifty years ago, if we emitted a tonne of CO2, sinks would remove 600 kilograms of it," he says. "Now it's 550 kilos and this amount is declining," he says.

It is unclear why the oceans' capacity is going down, but it is thought that the surface layers may be becoming saturated with greenhouse gas — partly because of increasing levels in the atmosphere and partly because of reduced ocean mixing that would bring unsaturated waters to the surface.

EDIT

http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071022/full/news.2007.186.html

[kestrel91316]

1. Something ELSE no one could have forseen, right??

[tom_paine]

2. Nope. No one.

:silly: :nuke:

"Silly nuke, extinction is for primates..."