Mauna Loa Observatory - Another CO2 Record

[Old Croc]

I did a cursory search and could not find anyone who disputed Roberts' numbers, but plenty who vehemently attacked his conclusions in this video and in other presentations he has made. As I'm not an atmospheric scientist, I cannot judge between the rhetoric coming from both sides. This is why I wrote that the rice video tempers CO2 reports. It doesn't negate them, but it does support the belief that we're not going to die in 12 years as AOC “joked.”

[TomK]

Old croc,

I'm not an atmospheric scientist but my specialty is in infrared ground-based astronomy. This requires a thorough understanding of how molecules in the atmosphere affect infrared observations from the ground. Of particular interest to me is how to carry out IR spectroscopy despite the challenges greenhouse gases give us. Our data, as well as data from many ground-based sites, show how powerful greenhouse gases are in absorbing light and the processes and physics are well understood. To have some Australian politician make up the nonsense that he did is frustrating because like you, his audience is not scientists but potential voters who may know nothing about the science.

Of course, you could also side with Glinda who claims I'm a janitor working at the observatories and a wannabe professional astronomer. That's your choice to make.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Mauna Loa Observatory measures CO2 in the atmosphere.
What about the fossil fuel emitters? Is their input of carbon into the air going up or down? Where are we headed in the next few years?

Carbon emissions climbed by 2% in 2018, faster than any year since 2011, because the demand for energy easily outstripped the rapid rollout of renewable energy.

Q: Why did demand increase?
A: Climate change creates wild swings in hot and cold temperatures driving greater demand for electricity used in heating and air conditioning units. Welcome to the death spiral:

Carbon emissions from the global energy industry last year rose at the fastest rate in almost a decade after extreme weather and surprise swings in global temperatures stoked extra demand for fossil fuels.

Who crunched the numbers? “Liberal” “socialist” “scientists?” Nope, fossil fuel giant BP.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/201...ssil-fuels

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

I posted a satellite photo of Mauna Kea & Mauna Loa covered in snow on the Discoveries... on Mauna Kea thread.  Some comments about climate change were made afterward (not really about discoveries on Mauna Kea), so I thought I’d try and move that discussion over here which does include both discoveries on Mauna Loa and climate change.

Last week on February 5th the Mauna Loa Observatory measured the highest CO2 reading in its history:

According to the CO2_Earth Twitter feed, the highest daily average of carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere was recently recorded at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii.
They reached 419.45 parts per million on February 5. That's up from 413.85 parts per million a year ago.
"The daily means are based on hours during which CO2 was likely representative of 'background' conditions, defined as times when the measurement is representative of air at mid-altitudes over the Pacific Ocean," the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Global Monitoring Laboratory states on its website.
"That air has had several days time or more to mix, smoothing out most of the CO2 variability encountered elsewhere, making the measurements representative of CO2 over hundreds of km or more.


According to the CO2_Earth Twitter feed, the highest daily average of carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere was recently recorded at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii.
They reached 419.45 parts per million on February 5. That's up from 413.85 parts per million a year ago.

https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/monthly.html

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

In the Washington Post today.
For comparison of CO2 numbers, go back to page 1 of this thread to see the record levels at that time.  Not that long ago.

Scientists from Scripps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Monday that levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide peaked in May, reaching a monthly average of nearly 419 parts per million.

... it marks the highest level since measurements began 63 years ago at the NOAA observatory in Mauna Loa, Hawaii. Twice in 2021, daily levels recorded at the observatory have exceeded 420 parts per million, researchers said.

... humans continue to add about 40 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide pollution to the atmosphere each year, and that avoiding catastrophic changes to the climate will require reducing that number to zero as quickly as possible.

“The fact that CO2 concentrations at Mauna Loa data are already so high and are keep going up so fast is disturbing but not surprising because the emissions of CO2 continue to be incredibly high,” said Corinne Le Quéré, research professor of climate change science at the University of East Anglia. “The concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere will stop rising when the emissions approach zero.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-e...rd-levels/

[tada]

I dreaming this extra CO2 means all the trees I'm planting will grow on the 1 acre papaya orchard I owned for the last 5 years. Though I resigned that I won't be around long enough to see what I envision it to be someday. The eucalyptus and ironwood and cane grow outta control fast. I transplanted podacarpus trees and seeds I gathered from the Hilo Airport roadside. They seem permanently stunted shrubs. Nothing like the Hilo Airport trees. I have 5 avocado trees 2-6 feet high. I sow about a 100 mountain apple seeds a year last 2 years. A few of them germinate and not all of the seedlings survive. I bought kiwi seeds on eBay and try germinate them on some diapers. Also bought amaranth seeds. I emailed Schatz about applying for carbon credits last month waiting for his answer.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Another new record set:

The amount of planet-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere broke a record in May, continuing its relentless climb, scientists said Friday. It is now 50 percent higher than the preindustrial average, before humans began the widespread burning of oil, gas and coal in the late 19th century.

There is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now than at any time in at least 4 million years,* National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said.

Dr. Tans and others at the laboratory calculated the peak concentration this year at 420.99 parts per million, based on data from a NOAA weather station atop the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii. Observations began there in the late 1950s by a Scripps Institution of Oceanography scientist, Charles David Keeling, and the long-term record is known as the Keeling Curve.

Scripps’s scientists still make observations at Mauna Loa under a program run by Dr. Keeling’s son, Ralph Keeling. Using that independent data, which is similar to NOAA’s, they calculated the concentration at 420.78.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/03/clima...ecord.html

* Homo Sapiens have existed for about 200,000 years.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Another year, another record high.  If you click the link The Post leads with a photo of Mauna Loa Observatory:

423.78 CO2

‘Not good,’ said one climate scientist, referring to a near-record increase in CO2 levels since May of last year.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-e...te-change/#

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Unfortunately, year after year I never have to edit the title of this thread.
Another record, over 422 ppm, now double the CO2 at the start of the Industrial Revolution.
Even if you believe this is just a natural fluctuation in the earth’s atmosphere, it gets higher and lower even without human activity, haven’t we managed to make this period of increase worse than it would be?  Perhaps so bad we’re just frogs in a pot of water that’s slowly being brought to a boil?

https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/global.html

[TomK]

I saw this reported yesterday but the article was on Bloomberg which is behind a paywall. I'll try and dig out the actual science paper but at least this article is available for free:

"Carbon dioxide just took an ominous, record-breaking jump"

"Researchers have recorded the largest jump in global average carbon dioxide emissions leading to a record level of climate-warming gases in the atmosphere. This unprecedented rise comes as the Earth has experienced its 11th month in a row of record-b...

“It's a new milestone and it helps reinforce the point that CO2 is still rising faster than ever overall in the atmosphere,” said Ralph Keeling, director of the CO2 Program at the University of California at San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which has tracked the gas at Mauna Loa Observatory since the 1950s."

https://www.deccanherald.com/science/car...mp-3018192

PS. More info here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2...mauna-loa/