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Is the Large Jump in CO2 Levels a Sign that Abrupt Climate Change May Already Be Underway?A recently issued report by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of an unexpectedly large increase in carbon dioxide levels from 2002 to 2003 has raised concerns that the earth may already be entering a time of rapid and abrupt climate change. The measurements taken at NOAA's Mauna Loa Observatory showed CO2 levels had jumped 2.5 ppm from 2002 to 2003 to a level of 376 ppm. This increase went well past the annual increase that might have been anticipated from human energy emissions, land use change and deforestation. Normally CO2 levels increase about 1.5 ppm annually. Although the 2.5 ppm increase is not the largest ever in a single year, it has raised concern as it comes after a similar jump of about 2.5 ppm from 2001 to 2002. Conceivably there may be some benign explanation for this sharp jump in two consecutive years. Another more ominous possibility exists - that some of the increase could be due to a feedback effect that is amplifying the rise expected from human activity and that might kick our gradual warming trend into high gear. There are a number of possibilities, among the most troubling that the oceans may be absorbing a smaller fraction of the CO2 releases as concentrations rise, thus further speeding the rise in atmospheric concentrations. Commenting on the recent NOAA report, Climate Institute President John Topping stated: "The Mauna Loa data underscore the urgency not only of concerted research on abrupt or high end climate change but also of policy focus on what emergency measures we can take if we find a precipitous change is bearing down the tracks at us. Coming as it does on top of other signs of sickly canaries in a mineshaft, the news of rapid rises in CO2 concentrations should make policy makers and emergency planners take notice. Fortunately some already are. Next month some of the top scientists and policy planners in the United Kingdom will gather at Green College, Oxford University to discuss emergency measures to address onset of just such change." More reading on this topic:
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