The question of what is causing the temperature of the Earth to rise is a very tricky one, and you’ll probably get as many answers as there are knowledgeable and informed people – everybody thinks they are right.
Some correlate the heating up of the planet with the high level of CO2 in the atmosphere, and the depletion of the ozone layer, which lets more of the Sun’s radiation seep through and down to ground level.
Now, we are at a critical point in our recent history, because for the first time in recorded history, the level of CO2 has surpassed the symbolically important threshold of 400 ppm (parts per million). The results come from the US government’s Earth System Research lab, which is located atop the Mauna Loa volcano, some 3,400 meters (11,150 feet) above sea level.
The station has been active since 1958, when it recorded a figure of 316 ppm. The peak CO2 level can usually be observed in the month of May of each year. However, this year they recorded a daily average of 399.72 ppm on April 25, and a weekly average of 398.5 ppm.
The level has risen considerably since the start of the industrial revolution, when it is calculated that it would have been around 280 ppm. The Guardian suggests that the last time CO2 levels were so high was in the Pilocene age, which ranged from 5.3 to 2.6 million years ago when saber-toothed cats used to roam the Earth back then…
This last idea is an interesting one because it suggests that we may not be causing the increase in CO2 levels or the temperature rise, both of which can occur naturally.
By Andrei Nedelea
PHOTO GALLERY
