Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by mrpg on Saturday May 12 2018, @03:53AM   Printer-friendly
from the stop-killing-trees dept.

For the first time since humans have been monitoring, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide have exceeded 410 parts per million averaged across an entire month, a threshold that pushes the planet ever closer to warming beyond levels that scientists and the international community have deemed ‘‘safe.’’

The reading from the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii finds that concentrations of the climate-warming gas averaged above 410 parts per million throughout April. The first time readings crossed 410 at all occurred on April 18, 2017, or just about a year ago.

Earth’s atmosphere just crossed another troubling climate change threshold


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @10:13PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @10:13PM (#678955)

    "the trend in Mauna Loa CO2 (1.64 ppm per year) is statistically indistinguishable from the trend in global CO2 levels (1.66 ppm per year)" https://www.skepticalscience.com/print.php?r=58 [skepticalscience.com]

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @10:36PM (5 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @10:36PM (#678964)

    I just read this where they talk about delta CO2:
    https://web.archive.org/web/19980114152259/http://mloserv.mlo.hawaii.gov/publish/steve/VolcCO2.htm [archive.org]

    How do they get absolute CO2? Also pretending the measurements from the different sites are independent is disingenuous. Theyve rejected sites that dont fit.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @11:52PM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @11:52PM (#678979)

      >How do they get absolute CO2?

      You've answered that with your link. Take a look under "3.1 Measurement Methodology."

      >Also pretending the measurements from the different sites are independent is disingenuous. Theyve rejected sites that dont fit.

      There are stations at Barrow, Alaska; Tutuila, American Samoa and the South Pole.

      https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/dv/data/index.php?category=Greenhouse%2BGases¶meter_name=Carbon%2BDioxide&type=Insitu

      There's a volcanic crater near Barrow. Tutuila is a volcanic island. Antarctica has at least one active volcano, Mount Erebus. The site in California has been closed. Conspiracy? California has volcanoes too--maybe not enough?

      "California emissions of greenhouse gases have increased by about 10 percent between 1990
      and 2004"

      https://oehha.ca.gov/media/downloads/risk-assessment/document/finalkioskpanel1.pdf [ca.gov]

      Air samples are collected from numerous places around the world in glass flasks.

      https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/dv/data/index.php?category=Greenhouse%2BGases¶meter_name=Carbon%2BDioxide&frequency=Monthly%2BAverages

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @11:54PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @11:54PM (#678981)
        Trying again with the ESRL links. First one:
        https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/dv/data/index.php?category=Greenhouse%2BGases&parameter_name=Carbon%2BDioxide&type=Insitu

        Second one:
        https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/dv/data/index.php?category=Greenhouse%2BGases&parameter_name=Carbon%2BDioxide&frequency=Monthly%2BAverages
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @11:59PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 12 2018, @11:59PM (#678982)

        You've answered that with your link. Take a look under "3.1 Measurement Methodology."

        Maybe Im not understanding it, can you quote what youre referring to?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 13 2018, @02:01AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 13 2018, @02:01AM (#679023)

          The person who asked [soylentnews.org] "How do they get absolute CO2?" gave a link [archive.org] to a paper that explains the methodology. Sampled air is compared in a non-dispersive infrared analyzer [wikipedia.org] to reference gases.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 13 2018, @02:33AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 13 2018, @02:33AM (#679035)

            Ok... this is like pulling teeth.

            So did they just do that once or what? How often is it done? Why is everything reported in deltas for that paper?