• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Report: 2004 Set Record for Carbon Dioxide

Posted on: Tuesday, 14 March 2006, 18:00 CST

By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS

GENEVA - Carbon dioxide and other so-called greenhouse gases reached record high levels in the atmosphere in 2004, the World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday in a new report aimed at providing an annual measuring system for emissions widely blamed for global warming.

The publication of WMO's first annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin gives the scientific community worldwide data on the amount of heat-trapping gases created in the burning of fossil fuels.

"Global observations coordinated by WMO show that levels of carbon dioxide, the most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, continue to increase steadily and show no signs of leveling off," WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud said.

Leonard Barrie, chief of atmospheric research at WMO, said the work did not draw conclusions about the impact of the emissions on global warming.

But, Barrie said, "If you have that much more energy being trapped, where does it go? That's the question everybody wants to know. Is it increasing the average surface temperature? Is it increasing storm frequency?"

A growing number of scientific studies bolster the theory that increased levels of carbon dioxide, methane and other gases are accumulating in the atmosphere, where they trap heat and raise the Earth's average temperature.

According to NASA, 2005 had the highest annual average surface temperature worldwide since instrument recordings began in the late 1800s.

Scientists have been measuring greenhouse gases for about 30 years, and they have bored deep into glacial ice to measure the gases trapped in snow over the centuries, Barrie said. As a result, they can say that there is 35 percent more carbon dioxide than in 1750, primarily because of human burning for fossil fuels.

During the same period, methane - produced by wetlands and other natural and human processes - has increased 155 percent. Nitrous oxides, also produced by natural sources as well as fertilizers, tree burning and industry, have grown 18 percent in the past 250 years, the study said.

WMO said it based it based its findings on readings from 44 countries.

Hans Verolme, director of climate change for the World Wildlife Fund in the United States, welcomed the report as providing an authoritative measurement of the change. He said 99 percent of scientists agree greenhouse gases are linked to global warming.

"The debate we're seeing more is one of vested economic interests who are concerned about how managing carbon risk will affect their bottom line," Verolme said.

Verolme said coal-fired and other electric power stations create 40 percent of the emissions, while cars are responsible for a large amount as well.

But he said it was like concern over acid rain in the 1980s and 1990s when some people argued it would cost too much to make industrial changes to stop the pollution causing it.

"The government ultimately did step in and say we will put a price on this pollution and we will leave it to the market to find the most efficient way to address it," Verolme said. "People were saying it was too expensive, and it turned out to be not too expensive at all."

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

More News in this Category