(January 19, 2019 at 10:08 am)Jehanne Wrote:(January 19, 2019 at 8:43 am)Thoreauvian Wrote: The sawtooth pattern of the increase of CO₂ in the atmosphere since 1958 is called the Keeling Curve. CO₂ varies about 8 ppm on a seasonal cycle, due to deciduous trees taking up CO₂ in the spring and releasing it in the fall in the northern hemisphere.
In other words, the winter peaks are not representative of the average for the whole year. I'm not sure what the average is right now, but it's somewhere above 405 ppm anyway.
The average is increasing about 2.5 ppm per year. Since 450 ppm will lead to 2 degrees C of warming over the preindustrial, we have less than 20 years of business-as-usual burning of fossil fuels before critical positive feedback loops kick in in big ways.
Look at the data more closely, if you would; CO2 levels worldwide typically peak around April or May, which means that the recent high here in January will be broken.
I think that Thor was just rounding out your post with a little more information since your post was about a single data point. No one disputes that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has been rising on average. A single data point in January is not enough to predict a higher average measure in April or May.
We do not inherit the world from our parents. We borrow it from our children.
