UN Study Shows Record-High Increases For Atmospheric CO2 In 2013

Figures released Tuesday by a United Nations advisory body reveal that 2013 saw new recorded highs for both carbon dioxide and methane, as well as the largest year-over-year rise in carbon dioxide since 1984, reflecting continuing worldwide emissions from human sources but also the possibility that natural sinks (oceans and vegetation) are near their capacity for absorbing the excess. From the Washington Post's account: The latest figures from the World Meteorological Organization’s monitoring network are considered particularly significant because they reflect not only the amount of carbon pumped into the air by humans, but also the complex interaction between man-made gases and the natural world. Historically, about half of the pollution from human sources has been absorbed by the oceans and by terrestrial plants, preventing temperatures from rising as quickly as they otherwise would, scientists say. “If the oceans and the biosphere cannot absorb as much carbon, the effect on the atmosphere could be much worse,” said Oksana Tarasova, a scientist and chief of the WMO’s Global Atmospheric Watch program, which collects data from 125 monitoring stations worldwide. The monitoring network is regarded as the most reliable window on the health of Earth’s atmosphere, drawing on air samples collected near the poles, over the oceans, and in other locations far from cities and other major sources of pollution. The new figures for carbon dioxide were particularly surprising, showing the biggest year-over-year increase since detailed records were first compiled in the 1980s, Tarasova said in an interview. The jump of nearly three parts per million over 2012 levels was twice as large as the average increase in carbon levels in recent decades, she said.

Comments

Re:Meanwhile in the real world...

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the people who have the largest stake in perpetuating the AGW myth is the climate 'scientists' who have made a career out of lying and scaring people into believing that the world is headed for an apocalyptic end.

Re:Talking Point

[BitZtream]

When you come up with excuses to justify your over reaction, do you ever stop and think 'how many times am I going to have to blow off the 'deniers' before I consider maybe I'm over-reacting'? Do you ever consider that you're doing the same silly shit that the 'deniers' are doing when you utterly ignore any possibility that the world is not going to end next tuesday?

The reason the 'deniers' keep denying is because the 'believers' are so utterly ridiculous about the doom and gloom and any time any one questions the impending total collapse of society you keep espousing you go off the deep end and start the name calling.

Do you ever stop and consider that you don't actually know shit about climatology and that you're just falling right in with the cult as if you were a religious nut job (hint, most people who talking about global warming ARE RELIGIOUS NUT JOBS, just a different religion than most think of).

You haven't reviewed the data, you can't, its not public, so stop acting like you know any better than I do what the truth is. You're blindly believing a bunch of guys who spend their lives making money by claiming the climate is going to change and we're all going to die. You seem to be unaware that science is not free of politics any more than the presidential election is free from politics.

I want my money back

[scsirob]

For the past decade I have been taxed the hell out of, all for the savior of our planet. All to reduce emissions, lower pollution and stop Global Warming (which has conveniently been renamed to Climate Change).

Apparently all for nothing. Taxing the hell out of ordinary people makes zero difference on CO2 emissions. So can I please have my money back???