Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration in has recently reached 400 parts per million at seven remote sites in the Arctic region, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
This is the first time a monthly average measurement for a greenhouse gas has reached the 400 PPM mark in a remote location, according to the NOAA press release.
The current average atmospheric CO2 concentration globally is 394 ppm. Before the Industrial Revolution of the 1880's the global average CO2 concentration was close to 280 ppm.
"We will likely see global average CO2 concentrations reach 400 ppm about 2016," says Pieter Tans, an atmospheric scientist with NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) in Boulder.
From the NOAA article.......
Measurements at all those remote sites reflect background levels of CO2, influenced by long-term human emissions around the world, but not directly by emissions from a nearby population center. At other more locally influenced sites in NOAA's network, such as Cape May, N.J., upwind cities influence CO2 concentrations, which have exceeded 400 ppm in spring for several years.
The remote, high latitude northern sites reached 400 ppm first in April and May, the peak of the natural CO2 cycle. Plant growth cycles remove the gas from the air during late spring and summer and add it back during fall, winter and early spring. This annual cycle is largest at Northern high latitudes. During June through August, CO2 will fall again, and next April and May it is expected be to 402 ppm or higher at the same northern sites.
As mentioned earlier this year, atmospheric CO2 levels are currently higher than they have been at any time during the last 800,000 years.
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Climate Change
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