Atmospheric levels of C02 set new highs - 'Explosive compared to natural processes'

Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide last year rose by the biggest margin since records began, according to a US federal science agency.

Fossil fuel burning and a strong El Nino weather pattern pushed CO2 levels 3.05 parts per million on a year earlier to 402.6 ppm, as measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, NOAA said on Wednesday.

“Carbon dioxide levels are increasing faster than they have in hundreds of thousands of years,” said Pieter Tans, lead scientist at NOAA’s Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network. “It’s explosive compared to natural processes.”

The big jump in CO2 broke a record held since 1998, also a powerful El Nino year.

Read the Climate Home story - “CO2 levels make largest annual leap in 56 years – NOAA.”