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hatrack

(59,592 posts)
Tue Mar 14, 2017, 07:58 AM Mar 2017

Rate Of Increase In Atmospheric CO2 Fastest Ever Recorded: Welcome To The Post-400 World

For the second year in a row, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have climbed at a record pace. According to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, carbon dioxide levels jumped by three parts per million in both 2015 and 2016 and now rest at about 405 parts per million.

It’s the biggest jump ever observed at the agency’s Mauna Loa Baseline Atmospheric Observatory in Hawaii, where the measurements were recorded. Similar observations have been recorded at stations all over the world, said Pieter Tans, who leads the Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases group at NOAA’s Greenhouse Gas Reference Network. Throughout the last decade, the average rate of increase has been around 2.3 parts per million per year, Tans added.

EDIT

It may be a little confusing to consider this news alongside other recent reports, which suggest that global carbon emissions caused by human activity have actually remained fairly flat for the past three years. The fact is, even if emissions have remained pretty stable in recent years, humans are still pouring billions of tons of greenhouse gases into the air each year.

And even if these emission levels really are starting to plateau — and it will be years before we can say whether that’s actually the case, or whether the recent flattening is just a blip on an otherwise upward trend — they’re still evening out at an all-time high, after decades of climbing. Additionally, carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for a long time, Tans noted. This means that new carbon dioxide emissions have a cumulative effect, adding to emissions that were already there.

EDIT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/03/13/carbon-dioxide-in-the-atmosphere-is-rising-at-the-fastest-rate-ever-recorded/?utm_term=.eacf6389d4ea

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Rate Of Increase In Atmospheric CO2 Fastest Ever Recorded: Welcome To The Post-400 World (Original Post) hatrack Mar 2017 OP
most likely is that we have moved beyond the tipping point as well lapfog_1 Mar 2017 #1
Inevitability GliderGuider Mar 2017 #2
Environment & energy izopnyde Mar 2017 #3
Fortunately, this is not how a "nuclear bomb" works. OKIsItJustMe Mar 2017 #4

lapfog_1

(29,219 posts)
1. most likely is that we have moved beyond the tipping point as well
Tue Mar 14, 2017, 08:11 AM
Mar 2017

meaning that even if humans stopped producing any CO2, the atmospheric content would continue to rise from the positive feedback loops already engaged.

 

GliderGuider

(21,088 posts)
2. Inevitability
Tue Mar 14, 2017, 09:10 AM
Mar 2017

Given the aspects of human nature that have been supported and amplified by industrial civilization through the centuries (i.e. short-term outlook, competition, growth orientation, status through materialism) it was inevitable that we would exploit all concentrated energy sources available until we ran into undeniable trouble.

We're undeniably in trouble.

izopnyde

(3 posts)
3. Environment & energy
Tue Mar 14, 2017, 11:40 AM
Mar 2017

AND THAT WAS THE GOOD NEWS.
What's NOT being followed is The RADIATION LEAKING INTO THE PACIFIC OCEAN.
PLEASE PULL UP THE LATEST STUFF ON FUKUSHIMA.
I couldn't even start to list all the research done on this subject. The problem is that it has been largely ignored by American anybody in the "commercial press." News has become, in general, un-newsworthy. We are continuously being fed misleading information not only from the NBC, CBS and ABC's of the world as they play out on the evening news but on "push technology" and from bloggers that may not have your best interests at heart. This particular Administration has as its motto via britebart news (which operates out of The Whitehouse): Quick! Spread lies about the others before they tell the truth AND their
STATED OBJECTIVE IS TO TEAR DOWN GOVERNMENT! These are Steve Bannon's words, not mine.
Moreover, we have a guy in charge of The NRC who believes that that organization needs to be torn down too. Well, congratulations the Pacific Ocean is now dying from radiation poisoning and it's only a few thousand miles from our shores.
And that's still the good news!
Right now the recently illuminated Tepco seeing that maybe they need to stop the nuclear fusion in the bottom of the well that this disaster has created. Yep, the real China Syndrome and it's happening at Fukushima but that's STILL THE GOOD NEWS!
I'll entitle this part THE BAD NEWS
So we've got this big oil backslapping good old boy Texas governor that knows nothing about the department he is in charge of but wants to dismantle the NRC, a President that wants the same and we have The Fukushima Problem that nobody in our land of the almost free press is talking about. Enter North Korea.

Anyone out there know how to but a nuclear bomb?
Even with my rudimentary understanding of nuclear physics I can tell you!
It goes something like this; procure a bunch of "nuclear rods" and then "energize" them and keep them reasonably cool by pumping fresh potable water over them and keep each rod from touching each other by containing one from another "egg crate" style. Then you stop the cold fresh potable and let it get real "HOT" then you replace that with sea water which now changes the chemical composition and galvanization can now take place and the whole thing begins to rot. With me so far?
KO? Now the bottom of the rods are like candle wax and melting into the bottom of the container and drip by CONCENTRATED DRIP it concentrates into a fissionable blob but That's not the end but just the beginning. This is what they did. As the blob grows it's very important that the galvanization stops. And that's what they did, flushing the highly nuclear contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean and replacing it with The fresh potable water. So now we have the drip drip drip of this waxing fissionable material coalescing BUT THIS IS ONLY A REPOSITORY AND NEEDS A BIG SPARK TO SET IT OFF.
Once again entertaining center stage right is our friends at Tepco their big Idea, simply put, is to remove the rods from their protective egg crate containers. I don't know but let's say the rods are 30meters long and because the rods are open at the bottom leaking fissionable material even as they attempt to remove them. The storage of all this radioactive waste is being done on site and a view from google Earth shows ho big it is. So how does one make a spark under these "controlled" conditions? That's easy! All you have to do is allow the fractured rods to rub against each other and it's good bye West coast. Not only California but all of the way back to Alberta, Canada, Wyoming, USA, Panama, all the way to Peru. Forgetting the shock waves destroying most of the Planet along the way AND, it'll blow a hole in the "Fire ring" that circles the Pacific and in all likelihood islands like Hawaii; gone, Easter Islands;gone, Philippines, gone. However it would take care of the North Korean problem because the entire peninsula and parts of China will be MIA and because of their nuclear weapons stockpiles it's bye bye all living organisms on the face of our planet!
I hope someone in this administration wakes up pretty soon because the Clock is ticking and we are getting much much too close to midnight

OKIsItJustMe

(19,938 posts)
4. Fortunately, this is not how a "nuclear bomb" works.
Tue Mar 14, 2017, 01:11 PM
Mar 2017

An atomic bomb is not easy to construct by chance, it’s difficult for scientists to do on purpose, and the yield you suggest simply isn’t within the bounds of reality.

Try this little exercise to see what is:
http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/

Since you make reference to the “Doomsday Clock” you might want to read some stuff from the people who created it…
http://thebulletin.org/
http://thebulletin.org/sites/default/files/Final%202017%20Clock%20Statement.pdf

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