Average Annual Increase In Atmospheric CO2 Biggest On Record In 2024; Same For GHGs Methane, Nitrous Oxide

[hatrack]

Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere soared by a record amount in 2024 to hit another high, UN data shows, deepening the climate crisis that is already taking lives and livelihoods across the world. Scientists are worried that the natural land and ocean “sinks” that remove CO2 from the air are weakening as a result of global heating, which could form a vicious circle and drive temperatures up even faster. The global average concentration of the gas surged by 3.5 parts per million to 424ppm in 2024, the largest increase since modern measurements started in 1957, according to the report by the World Meteorological Organization.

Several factors contributed to the leap in CO2, including another year of unrelenting fossil fuel burning despite a pledge by the world’s countries in 2023 to “transition away” from coal, oil and gas. Another factor was an upsurge in wildfires in conditions made hotter and drier by global heating. Wildfire emissions in the Americas reached historic levels in 2024, which was the hottest year yet recorded.

However, scientists are concerned about a third factor: the possibility that the planet’s carbon sinks are beginning to fail. About half of all CO2 emissions every year are taken back out of the atmosphere by being dissolved in the ocean or being sucked up by growing trees and plants. But the oceans are getting hotter and can therefore absorb less CO2 while on land hotter and drier conditions and more wildfires mean less plant growth.

EDIT

Atmospheric concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide – the second and third most important greenhouse gases related to human activities – also rose to record levels in 2024. About 40% of methane emissions come from natural sources. But scientists are concerned that global heating is leading to more methane production in wetlands, another potential feedback loop. The rest comes from fossil fuel exploitation; livestock such as cattle; rotting waste in landfills; and rice paddies. Human-caused nitrous oxide emissions include those from overuse of fertiliser by farmers and some industrial processes.

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/oct/15/record-leap-in-co2-fuels-fears-of-accelerating-global-heating

[kerouac2]

1. Wonder which trumpy company will get first contract

To build a dome city

[GiqueCee]

2. This article elucidates...

... irrefutable, rock-hard FACTS about atmospheric degradation. But the king of brain-dead skidmarks currently defiling the ketchup-stained Oval Office wants you to believe that it's a hoax. He is a pathological liar. Do not believe him.

[Bluestocking]

3. It appears that we are going to start seeing an exponential increase

We are no longer looking at 2050 or 2100 but 2030 or 2035 for catastrophic events

[Botany]

4. For parts of 3 months this summer the smoke from the Canadian forest fires was visible in Central OH

Those areas should not be burning because they should be under snow for 5 to 7 months and the ground should be wet
with surface water, moss, ferns, rotting trees and stumps, blueberries, lichens, peat moss, and leaf litter from the trees
but we have heated up the planet to an extent that those conditions no longer exist. The science behind the increase in
CO 2 in a body of gas and the more heat that body of gas will hold is over 150 years old.

So what does Trump do in order to keep his backers from the fossil fuel industries happy? He is gonna close NOAA's climate
observatory on Mt. Muna Loa in Hawaii which for 70 years has been the gold standard for green house gases data.