Just 4 years after atmospheric carbon dioxide levels passed the 400 parts per million mark, levels have now surged past the 410 parts per million (ppm) mark — serving as a good example of the great speed at which atmospheric levels are now increasing.
Over the next couple of hundred years, temperatures could rise to levels not experienced at any point in the last 420 million years, if fossil fuel reserves continue to be extracted and burnt, according to new research from the University of Southampton.
Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels (as measured by NOAA at the Mauna Loa Baseline Atmospheric Observatory) rose at a rate of 3 parts per million for the second straight year in a row in 2016, NOAA has revealed.
2016 is very likely to be the hottest year on record when it’s over, according to a new assessment from the World Meteorological Organization. As it stands, preliminary data are showing that global temperatures in 2016 are roughly 1.2° Celsius above pre-industrial levels — not far below the supposed “safe” limit of 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
