Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Update

Weekly average CO₂ at Mauna Loa Observatory 

• Week of April 21, 2013:     398.68 ppm
• Weekly value from 1 year ago:     396.66 ppm
• Weekly value from 10 years ago:     378.46 ppm

One Year of  CO_{2 d}aily and weekly means at Mauna Loa

The graph, updated weekly, shows as individual points daily mean CO₂ up to and including the week (Sunday through Saturday) previous to today. The daily means are based on hours during which CO₂ was likely representative of “background” conditions, defined as times when the measurement is representative of air at mid-altitudes over the Pacific Ocean. That air has had several days time or more to mix, smoothing out most of the CO₂ variability encountered elsewhere, making the measurements representative of CO₂ over hundreds of km or more. The selection process is designed to filter out any influence of nearby emissions, or removals, of CO₂ such as caused by the vegetation on the island of Hawaii, and likewise emissions from the volcanic crater of Mauna Loa.  Source: ESRL/NOAA

Recent Mauna Loa CO₂

• March 2013:     397.34 ppm
• March 2012:     394.45 ppm

Recent Global CO₂

• February 2013:     395.98 ppm
• February 2012:     393.05 ppm

Related Links

• 400 PPM  posted April 3, 2013

Global Disasters/ Significant Events – 29 April 2013

Devastating Floods in Kentucky Wash Out Bridges, Destroy Infrastructure

Two weeks of severe flooding in eastern and southeastern Kentucky have devastated the region. Many bridges are washed out and dozens of roads and culverts in the region are severely damaged prompting Gov. Beshear to declare a state of emergency for 12 counties on Friday.

• The 12 counties covered by the declaration are Bell, Clay, Crittenden, Harlan, Jackson, Knox, Laurel, Lee, Leslie, Owsley, Rockcastle and Whitley, said a report.

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North Dakota and Minnesota

Flood Threat increases for Red and Souris Rivers in North Dakota and Minnesota: River levels on the Souris and Red Rivers in North Dakota are rising as warmer temperatures allow the snowpack to begin a more aggressive thaw. Stream and river rises will continue, along with an increased risk of overland flooding. Flood Watches and Flood Warnings are now in effect in northern North Dakota and Minnesota. —NWS

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Flash floods injure 10, force about 1,000 to flee their homes in North Sumatra, Indonesia

The Aek Mata and Aek Ranto rivers in North Sumatra, Indonesia overflowed on Sunday following an extreme rain event, injuring at least 10 people, 6 of them severely, and forcing about 1,000 people to flee their homes.

• Scores of houses were swept away by the floods, according to a report.
  

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Bangladesh: Death toll from Dhaka building collapse nears 400

At least 385 people are now confirmed dead following Rana Plaza building collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Reuters reported.

• Hundreds of other mostly female garment workers remain unaccounted for.
• The Bangladeshi garment industry employs up to 4 million people, most of them female, some of whom earn just over $1 a day.
  
• About 60 percent of Bangladesh’s low-cost garment exports go to Europe,  23 percent to the U.S., and 5 percent to Canada.

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Famine in Somalia killed 260,000 people in 2011

The 2011 famine in Somalia killed an estimated 260,000 people, half of them aged 5 and under, according to a new report, which is being made public on Thursday by FEWSNET, a Western official briefed on the report told AP.

• The report more than doubles previous death toll estimates by the U.K. government which said between 50,000 and 100,000 people had died in the famine.

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DISASTER CALENDAR – April 29, 2013 — 
SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,048 Days Left 

Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.

• SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,048 Days Left to ‘Worst Day’ in the brief Human  History
• The countdown began on May 15, 2011 …

GLOBAL WARNINGS

• WARNING: Human impact 2.85 x Earth’s diminishing carrying capacity
• WARNING: RAPID PLANETARY DECLINE IN PROGRESS!
• Europe: The First Phase of Collapse Has Started 
• United States: The First Phase of Collapse Has Begun

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

SST Hit Highest Level in 150 Years on Northeast Continental Shelf

SST for the NE Shelf Ecosystem jumped to record 14°C in 2012

Sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the Northeast Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem during the second half of 2012 hit the highest level in 150 years, according to Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC).

“These high sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are the latest in a trend of above average temperature seen during the spring and summer seasons, and part of a pattern of elevated temperatures occurring in the Northwest Atlantic, but not seen elsewhere in the ocean basin over the past century,” said the latest NEFSC advisory.

• The temperature rise in 2012 was the highest temperature jump—more than 1°C—ever  observed in the time series.

• Average SST was lower than 12.4°C (54.3°F) over the past three decades.

• The Northeast U.S. Continental Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem (LME) extends from the Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras, N.C.

The four subregions of the Northeast Shelf Large Marine Ecosystem, which extends from Cape Hatteras, N.C. to the Gulf of Maine. MAB is the Mid-Atlantic Bight, SNE is Southern New England, GB is Georges Bank, and GOM is the Gulf of Maine. Credit: NOAA

The warm water thermal habitat reached a record high during 2012, while cold water habitat dropped to a record low. “Early winter mixing of the water column went to extreme depths, which will impact the spring 2013 plankton bloom. Mixing redistributes nutrients and affects stratification of the water column as the bloom develops,” said the report.

Distributions of fish and shellfish on the Shelf is also affected by temperature. “The four southern species – black sea bass, summer flounder, longfin squid and butterfish – all showed a northeastward or upshelf shift. American lobster has shifted upshelf over time but at a slower rate than the southern species. Atlantic cod and haddock have shifted downshelf.”

“Changes in ocean temperatures and the timing and strength of spring and fall plankton blooms could affect the biological clocks of many marine species, which spawn at specific times of the year based on environmental cues like water temperature,” said a researcher in the NEFSC Ecosystem Assessment Program.