C02 spikes to critical new record

For the first time in recorded history, the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide, or CO2, was measured at more than 420 parts per million atop the iconic Mauna Loa Observatory on the Big Island of Hawaii. It marks a disconcerting milestone in the continued human-induced warming of the planet, around the halfway point on our path towards doubling pre-industrial CO2 levels.

The research station, located at 11,135 feet elevation on the summit of picturesque Hawaiian volcano, has been monitoring the weather and chemistry of the atmosphere continuously since the 1950s. Its location allows it to sample some of the purest air available, providing scientists an untainted representation of how humans are irreversibly influencing climate system.

When the station first began collecting CO2 measurements in the late 1950s, atmospheric CO2 concentration sat at around 315 parts per million. On Saturday, the daily average was pegged at 421.21 parts per million — the first time in human history that number has been so high. Previously, it had never exceeded 420 parts per million.

“We’re completely certain that the increase in CO2 is warming the planet,” wrote Kate Marvel, an associate research scientist at Columbia University, in an email. “I’m even more certain CO2 causes global heating than I am that smoking causes cancer. The world is already more than 2 [degrees F] warmer than it was before the Industrial Revolution.”

In addition to the temperature increase, a warmer atmosphere supports more instances of drought in some areas and flooding rains in others, along with stronger hurricanes and typhoons and the potential for more storms to rapidly intensify in dangerous and unpredictable ways.

Carbon dioxide emissions are a product of electricity production, transportation and industry. The United States alone emits more than five billion metric tons of CO2 annually — the weight of 13.2 million fully-loaded Boeing-747s, or roughly 68,000 Washington monuments.