Ext User(Booozoo)
17-02-2007, 08:13 AM
Greenhouse gases hit new high: research
February 17, 2007 - 5:59AM
Greenhouse gases widely blamed for causing global warming have jumped to
record highs in the atmosphere, apparently stoked by rising emissions from
Asian industry, a researcher said.
"Levels are at a new high," said Kim Holmen, research director of the
Norwegian Polar Institute which oversees the Zeppelin measuring station on
the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard about 1,200 km from the North Pole.
He said concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas emitted
largely by burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars, had
risen to 390 parts per million (ppm) from 388 a year ago. Levels have hit
peaks almost every year in recent decades, bolstering theories of warming,
and are far above 270 ppm before the Industrial Revolution of the 18th
century. Climate scientists say the heat-trapping gas is blanketing the
planet. Holmen said the increase of 2 ppm from 2006 reflected an
accelerating rise in recent years. "When I was young, scientists were
talking about 1 ppm rise" every year, he said. "Since 2000 it has been a
very rapid rate." "The large increases in release rates are definitely in
the Asian economies," led by China, he said. China is opening coal-fired
power plants at the rate of almost one a week. Carbon dioxide
concentrations peak just before the northern hemisphere spring, when
plants start soaking up the gas as they grow. Southern hemisphere seasons
have less effect since there are fewer land masses - and plants - south of
the equator. The Zeppelin station is run in cooperation with Stockholm
University and is one of the main measuring points along with a station in
Hawaii. Remoteness from industrial centres helps. Scientists say the
concentration of carbon dioxide, according to the modern records, is at
its highest in the atmosphere in at least 650,000 years. The world's top
climate scientists said in a report on February 2 they were more than 90
per cent certain that human activities, led by burning fossil fuels, were
to blame for warming. That was up from 66 per cent certainty in a previous
report in 2001. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said
that temperature rises were set to accelerate and could gain by between
1.1 and 6.4 celsius by 2100, bringing more floods, droughts and rising sea
levels. Apart from human emissions from burning fossil fuels, he said
there were other factors that could affect carbon dioxide levels in
future. On the one hand, plants may grow more in a warmer world, soaking
up more carbon dioxide. But if the soil gets warmer, dead plants and
leaves may rot more in winter, releasing more carbon. Any heating of the
oceans may means less absorption of carbon dioxide, partly because the
greater buoyancy of warmer water inhibits a mixing with deeper levels.
February 17, 2007 - 5:59AM
Greenhouse gases widely blamed for causing global warming have jumped to
record highs in the atmosphere, apparently stoked by rising emissions from
Asian industry, a researcher said.
"Levels are at a new high," said Kim Holmen, research director of the
Norwegian Polar Institute which oversees the Zeppelin measuring station on
the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard about 1,200 km from the North Pole.
He said concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas emitted
largely by burning fossil fuels in power plants, factories and cars, had
risen to 390 parts per million (ppm) from 388 a year ago. Levels have hit
peaks almost every year in recent decades, bolstering theories of warming,
and are far above 270 ppm before the Industrial Revolution of the 18th
century. Climate scientists say the heat-trapping gas is blanketing the
planet. Holmen said the increase of 2 ppm from 2006 reflected an
accelerating rise in recent years. "When I was young, scientists were
talking about 1 ppm rise" every year, he said. "Since 2000 it has been a
very rapid rate." "The large increases in release rates are definitely in
the Asian economies," led by China, he said. China is opening coal-fired
power plants at the rate of almost one a week. Carbon dioxide
concentrations peak just before the northern hemisphere spring, when
plants start soaking up the gas as they grow. Southern hemisphere seasons
have less effect since there are fewer land masses - and plants - south of
the equator. The Zeppelin station is run in cooperation with Stockholm
University and is one of the main measuring points along with a station in
Hawaii. Remoteness from industrial centres helps. Scientists say the
concentration of carbon dioxide, according to the modern records, is at
its highest in the atmosphere in at least 650,000 years. The world's top
climate scientists said in a report on February 2 they were more than 90
per cent certain that human activities, led by burning fossil fuels, were
to blame for warming. That was up from 66 per cent certainty in a previous
report in 2001. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said
that temperature rises were set to accelerate and could gain by between
1.1 and 6.4 celsius by 2100, bringing more floods, droughts and rising sea
levels. Apart from human emissions from burning fossil fuels, he said
there were other factors that could affect carbon dioxide levels in
future. On the one hand, plants may grow more in a warmer world, soaking
up more carbon dioxide. But if the soil gets warmer, dead plants and
leaves may rot more in winter, releasing more carbon. Any heating of the
oceans may means less absorption of carbon dioxide, partly because the
greater buoyancy of warmer water inhibits a mixing with deeper levels.