Greenhouse gas concentrations reach a record high: World Meteorological Organisation

Economic Times , Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Correspondent :
NEW DELHI: Fears and grim predictions of climate change impacting the ecology may soon be a reality. World Meteorological Organisation, in a statement released on Tuesday revealed that the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a new record high in 2011. Between 1990 and 2011 there was a 30% increase in radiative forcing - the warming effect on our climate -because of higher concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other green house gases.

Since the beginning of the industrial era in 1750, about 375 billion tonnes of carbon have been released into the atmosphere as CO2, primarily from fossil fuel combustion, according to WMO's 2011Greenhouse Gas Bulletin released recently.

"These billions of tonnes of additional carbon dioxide in our atmosphere will remain there for centuries, causing our planet to warm further and impacting all aspects of life on earth," said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud. "Future emissions will only compound the situation."

But, experts claim that the carbon sinks like forests may fail to contain the impact of climate change. "Until now, carbon sinks have absorbed nearly half of the carbon dioxide humans emitted in the atmosphere, but this will not necessarily continue in the future. We have already seen that the oceans are becoming more acidic as a result of the carbon dioxide uptake, with potential repercussions for the underwater food chain and coral reefs," added Jarraud.

WMO's Global Atmosphere Watch network, spanning 50 countries provides data on greenhouse gas concentrations, including their sources, sinks and chemical transformations in the atmosphere.

However, WMO's Greenhouse Gas Bulletin reports on atmospheric concentrations - and not emissions - of greenhouse gases. Emissions represent what goes into the atmosphere. Concentrations represent what remains in the atmosphere after the complex system of interactions between the atmosphere, biosphere and the oceans.

CO2 is the most important of the long-lived GHG gases - so named because they trap radiation within the Earth's atmosphere causing it to warm. Human activities, such as fossil fuel burning and land use change (for instance, tropical deforestation), are the main sources of the anthropogenic carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The other main long-lived greenhouse gases are methane and nitrous oxide.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Annual Greenhouse Gas Index, quoted in the bulletin, shows that from 1990 to 2011, radiative forcing by long-lived greenhouse gases increased by 30%, with CO2 accounting for about 80% of this increase.

 
SOURCE : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/environment/global-warming/greenhouse-gas-concentrations-reach-a-record-high-world-meteorological-organisation/articleshow/17297517.cms
 


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