Accelerated rise in CO(subscript 2).Accelerated rise in [CO.sub.2] Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide carbon dioxide, chemical compound, CO2, a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is about one and one-half times as dense as air under ordinary conditions of temperature and pressure. , a major greenhouse gas, climbed much faster in the last four years than during previous years, according to findings from some 30 stations around the globe. Since 1986, the concentration of carbon dioxide has increased 1.71 parts per million parts per million mg/kg or ml/l; see ppm. (ppm) a year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Noun 1. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - an agency in the Department of Commerce that maps the oceans and conserves their living resources; predicts changes to the earth's environment; provides weather reports and forecasts floods and hurricanes and (NOAA NOAA abbr. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Noun 1. NOAA - an agency in the Department of Commerce that maps the oceans and conserves their living resources; predicts changes to the earth's environment; ) reported last week. In 1988, the level rose by more than 2 ppm--a record jump. The recent four-year growth rate represents a dramatic increase over the long-term average of 1.4 ppm for the last 15 years, says Pieter Tans of NOAA's Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory in Boulder, Colo. The current concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide measures about 350 ppm. The rise stems primarily from fossil-fuel burning and tropical deforestation deforestation Process of clearing forests. Rates of deforestation are particularly high in the tropics, where the poor quality of the soil has led to the practice of routine clear-cutting to make new soil available for agricultural use. . But only about half of the additional gas produced each year stays in the air; the rest gets stored in "sinks" in the oceans and in plant material on land. Atmospheric scientists still don't know how much each sink absorbs, and the uncertainty greatly hampers their ability to predict how quickly carbon dioxide levels will build in the future (SN: 8/26/89, p.132). Variations in growth rates should help them determine where the carbon dioxide goes, Tans says. |
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