Fastest rise of CO2 in 650,000 years
A new European study has concluded that CO2 levels currently are rising faster than at anytime before in the last 650,000 years.
By drilling more than 3 kilometres into the ice core in Antarctica, a team of scientists have managed to measure levels of CO2 trapped in tiny air bubbles inside the ice. The findings have made it possible to put current CO2 and methane levels into historic perspective.
19th December 2005
carbon-info.org
Project leader Thomas Stocker from the University of Bern, Switzerland explains: "We find that CO2 is about 30% higher than at any time, and methane 130% higher than at any time; and the rates of increase are absolutely exceptional: for CO2, 200 times faster than at any time in the last 650,000 years."
Mr Stocker said that the study had managed to confirm that there exist "a very tight relationship between CO2 and temperature even before 420,000 years. The fact that the relationship holds across the transition between climatic regimes is a very strong indication of the important role of CO2 in climate regulation."
Professor Thomas Stocker
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