• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
Celebrating our 1,000th edition. The climate news you need
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  FEATURED
Ex-Fossil Workers Convert Old Oilfields to Solar Farms After ‘Rapid Upskilling’ in Alberta June 29, 2022
London Becomes Biggest City to Sign Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty June 29, 2022
G7 Miss ‘Golden Opportunity’, Walk Back Pledge to Cut International Fossil Finance June 29, 2022
Soaring Fertilizer Prices Could Deliver ‘Silver Lining’ For Emissions, But Farmers Struggle to Limit Use June 26, 2022
BREAKING: UN Nature Summit, the ‘Paris Conference for Biodiversity’, Moves to Montreal in December June 19, 2022
Next
Prev
Home Climate News Network

CO2 impacts taint pristine island

June 30, 2016
Reading time: 2 minutes
Primary Author: Tim Radford

The cliffs of Amsterdam Island are a haven for sea birds such as the yellow-nosed albatross.

The cliffs of Amsterdam Island are a haven for sea birds such as the yellow-nosed albatross.

 

French scientists find that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have now topped 400 parts per million even on a remote, unpolluted island in the Indian Ocean.

LONDON, 30 June, 2016 – Human emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide have reached another landmark. They have surpassed atmospheric levels of 400 parts per million even in one of the most distant, most unpolluted measuring stations on the planet.

In May, according to scientists working for France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), atmospheric concentrations of CO2 reached 400 ppm at a meteorological station on Amsterdam Island in the southern Indian Ocean.

The island is little more than a mountain sticking out of the sea, and is populated only by albatross, skua gulls, terns, rockhopper penguins and researchers at a small French observatory, where records have been maintained for 35 years.

Global temperatures

Through most of human history, carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have oscillated about an average of 285 ppm. The symbolic 400ppm level was first surpassed in the northern hemisphere during the winter of 2012/2013, although it fell again.

The gas is an important one – it provides the fertility of all plant life and maintains the planet at a habitable temperature. But since the start of the Industrial Revolution, and the global investment in coal, oil and then natural gas, concentrations have been rising. And so have global temperatures.

“Crossing the 400ppm threshold at Amsterdam Island means that this value has been reached practically all over the planet”

Last month, researchers announced that global average levels had crept above 400ppm and were likely to stay above that figure for a lifetime.

Global average temperatures have already risen by 1°C since the start of the 20th century, and last month the extent of Arctic sea ice was measured at its lowest since records first began, with polar winter temperatures as much as 10°C above historic levels.

Here to stay

So even in the southern hemisphere, at the end of a southern summer, where seasonal variations are in any case tiny, and in a place far from any roads, cities, factory chimneys, power stations and cement works, and where measured levels have always been lower than anywhere else in the world, the news that concentrations of CO2 have reached 400ppm means that the increase is here to stay.

Levels of CO2have been rising by 1.75 ppm a year for decades, and since 2012 have accelerated to 2ppm a year. “Crossing the 400ppm threshold at Amsterdam Island therefore means that this value has been reached practically all over the planet,” say the CNRS scientists. – Climate News Network



in Climate News Network

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

stux / Pixabay
Air & Marine

Big Seven European Airlines Lag on Reducing Sky-High Emissions: Report

June 13, 2022
76
Ars Electronica/flickr
Solar

Unique ‘Smartflower’ Microgrid to Power Saskatchewan High School

June 13, 2022
154
http://midwestenergynews.com/2013/10/24/as-pipeline-concerns-mount-a-renewed-focus-on-the-great-lakes-enbridge-mackinac-line-5/
Pipelines / Rail Transport

Line 5 Closure Brings Negligible Rise in Gas Prices, Enbridge Consultant Finds

June 10, 2022
206

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

François GOGLINS/wikimedia commons

Corrosion Problem Shutters Half of France’s Nuclear Reactors

June 29, 2022
227
Keith Hirsche

Ex-Fossil Workers Convert Old Oilfields to Solar Farms After ‘Rapid Upskilling’ in Alberta

June 29, 2022
411
Danielle Scott/flickr

Advocate Urges Ottawa to Intervene Before Ontario Builds Highway 413

June 29, 2022
130
David/flickr

U.S. Supreme Court Expected to Gut Emission Controls as Climate Scientists Petition for Plan B

June 26, 2022
1.2k
Number 10/flickr

G7 Miss ‘Golden Opportunity’, Walk Back Pledge to Cut International Fossil Finance

June 29, 2022
146
London Eye UK England

London Becomes Biggest City to Sign Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty

June 29, 2022
131

Recent Posts

AJEL / Pixabay

Windfall Tax on Food, Fossil, Pharma Giants Would Raise $490B to Solve ‘Catastrophic’ Food Crisis: Oxfam

June 29, 2022
58
futureatlas.com/flickr

Ottawa Demands Deeper Fuel Emissions Cuts, Offers Fossils a Double-Dip on Tax Breaks

June 29, 2022
78
Province of B.C./flickr

Comox Joins Municipalities Seeking Ban on New Gas Stations

June 29, 2022
78
/Piqsels

Refocus Agriculture Spending to Cut Emissions, Boost Productivity, OECD Urges Governments

June 29, 2022
29
Jimmy Emerson, DVM/flickr

Public Vigilance Key to Protecting Greenbelts for Climate Resilience, Report Finds

June 29, 2022
36
Miguel V/Wikimedia Commons

Forests Fall Short of Full Carbon Storage Potential, Study Finds

June 29, 2022
64
Next Post
The agreement at the Paris climate conference was signed by 195 nations.

Paris pledges fall short on emissions

The Energy Mix

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}