CO2,methane level at a record high: WMO

“The observations from WMO’s extensive Global Atmosphere Watch network highlight yet again how heat-trapping gases from human activities have upset the natural balance of our atmosphere and are a major contribution to climate change,” said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud. “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),in its recent 5th Assessment Report,stressed that atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide… increased to levels unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years… As a result,our climate is changing,our weather is more extreme,ice sheets and glaciers are melting and sea levels are rising,” said Jarraud.

The bulletin of WMO the UN weather wing that reports on atmospheric concentrations – what remains in the atmosphere after complex interactions between the atmosphere,biosphere and the oceans – says there was a 32 per cent increase in radiative forcing,the warming effect on our climate,because of CO2 and other heat-trapping gases such as methane and nitrous oxide,between 1990 and 2012.

Nitrous oxide (N2O) concentration in 2012 was about 325.1 parts per billion,0.9 parts per billion more than in 2011 and 120% of the pre-industrial level. Nitrous oxide (N2O) concentration in 2012 was about 325.1 parts per billion,0.9 parts per billion more than in 2011 and 120% of the pre-industrial level.

According to the annual bulletin of the UN weather agency,CO2 emission increased by 2.2 ppm from 2011 to 2012,which is above the average 2.02 ppm per year.