GHG Concentrations Hit Yet Another Record

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Warming amplified by interaction between CO₂ and water vapor: WMO

The concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere continue to set new records.

A 36% increase in radiative forcing due to long-lived greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) from industrial, agricultural and domestic activities, has affected the climate in the past 25 years, according to WMO’s Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.

The WMO report also highlights the interaction and amplification effect between rising levels of CO₂  and water vapour, which is itself a major greenhouse gas, albeit short-lived. Warmer air holds more moisture and so increased surface temperatures caused by CO₂ would lead to a rise in global water vapour levels, further adding to the enhanced greenhouse effect.  Further increases in CO₂ concentrations will lead to disproportionately high increases in thermal energy and warming from water vapour.

“Every year we report a new record in greenhouse gas concentrations,” said WMO Secretary-General.  “Every year we say that time is running out. We have to act NOW to slash greenhouse gas emissions if we are to have a chance to keep the increase in temperatures to manageable levels.”

[“Manageable levels of temperature?” Is this crotch science or the more scientific “argument of the pubic hair?”]

Atmospheric concentrations of CO₂ reached 397.7 parts per million (ppm) in 2014.  “In the Northern hemisphere CO₂ concentrations crossed the symbolically significant 400 ppm level in 2014 spring, when CO₂ is most abundant.  In spring 2015, the global average concentration of CO₂ crossed the 400 ppm barrier.”

Caught in a massive positive feedback loop, Earth’s surface is heating up rapidly. The excess energy trapped by atmospheric GHGs is resulting in increasing levels of water vapor, which in turn generates even more heat.