Tuesday 14 May 2013

CO2 @ 400 ppm

Sorry about putting "CO2" in the title line of this post. The chemist in me hates not being able to use proper nomenclature (I suppose I could have spelt out the words). Worse still are those people who, when they have the capability to make the 2 a subscript, still fail to do so. OK - one minor rant over.

Some figures have a certain totemic value to them and 400 ppm CO2 is surely just such a one. I am, of course, referring to the announcement from the Scripps Institution that a 24 hour average of 400.08 ppm CO2 has been measured at Mauna Loa. No matter where on the "climate change by anthroprogenic CO2 debate" spectrum you are, to see such a rapid change in one component of the atmosphere must be of concern. And if you are convinced that a significant proportion of global warming and climate change is indeed produced by anthroprogenic CO2 then you must be very worried that mankind in staring down a rather nastly looking barrel.

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