[Vision2020] NOAA: Carbon Dioxide, Methane Rise Sharply in 2007

[lfalen]

Ted
Look at the production of C02 and a raise in temperature as a function of time. Which occurs first? 
Roger
-----Original message-----
From: "Ted Moffett" starbliss at gmail.com
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:48:13 -0700
To: vision2020 vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] NOAA: Carbon Dioxide, Methane Rise Sharply in 2007

> http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2008/20080423_methane.html
> 
>  Carbon Dioxide, Methane Rise Sharply in 2007
> 
> April 23, 2008
> Last year alone global levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the primary
> driver of global climate change, increased by 0.6 percent, or 19 billion
> tons. Additionally methane rose by 27 million tons after nearly a decade
> with little or no increase. NOAA scientists released these and other
> preliminary findings today as part of an annual update to the agency's
> greenhouse gas index <http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/aggi>, which tracks data
> from 60 sites around the world.
> 
> The burning of coal, oil, and gas, known as fossil fuels, is the primary
> source of increasing carbon dioxide emissions. Earth's oceans, vegetation,
> and soils soak up half of these emissions. The rest stays in the air for
> centuries or longer. Twenty percent of the 2007 fossil fuel emissions of
> carbon dioxide are expected to remain in the atmosphere for thousands of
> years, according to the latest scientific assessment by the International
> Panel on Climate Change.
> 
> Viewed another way, last year's carbon dioxide increase means 2.4 molecules
> of the gas were added to every million molecules of air, boosting the global
> concentration to nearly 385 parts per million (ppm). Pre-industrial carbon
> dioxide levels hovered around 280 ppm until 1850. Human activities pushed
> those levels up to 380 ppm by early 2006.
> 
> The rate of increase in carbon dioxide concentrations accelerated over
> recent decades along with fossil fuel emissions. Since 2000, annual
> increases of two ppm or more have been common, compared with 1.5 ppm per
> year in the 1980s and less than one ppm per year during the 1960s.
> 
> Methane levels rose last year for the first time since 1998. Methane is 25
> times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, but there's far
> less of it in the atmosphere�about 1,800 parts per billion. When related
> climate affects are taken into account, methane's overall climate impact is
> nearly half that of carbon dioxide.
> 
> Rapidly growing industrialization in Asia and rising wetland emissions in
> the Arctic and tropics are the most likely causes of the recent methane
> increase, said scientist Ed Dlugokencky from NOAA's Earth System Research
> Laboratory.
> 
> "We're on the lookout for the first sign of a methane release from thawing
> Arctic permafrost," said Dlugokencky. "It's too soon to tell whether last
> year's spike in emissions includes the start of such a trend."
> 
> Permafrost, or permanently frozen ground, contains vast stores of carbon.
> Scientists are concerned that as the Arctic continues to warm and permafrost
> thaws, carbon could seep into the atmosphere in the form of methane,
> possibly fueling a cycle of carbon release and temperature rise.
> 
> NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through
> the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and
> information service delivery for transportation, and by providing
> environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources.
> Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems
> (GEOSS<http://www.noaa.gov/eos.html>),
> NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 70 countries and the
> European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as
> integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.
> 
> -----------------------------------------
> 
> Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
> 
>