Carbon dioxide and methane rise in 2007

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an U.S. agency, is working with its partners, the European Union and more than 70 countries, to develop a global environment monitoring network. According to the 2007 experimental data, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose by 0,6% ( or 19 billion tons), compared to previous year, boosting the global concentration to 385 ppm (parts per million). The 2007 rise in global carbon dioxide was significantly higher than the average annual increase for the last 30 years. Carbon dioxide is the main driver of the global climate change.

Methane rise

Methane level in the atmosphere rose in 2007 for the first time since 2008.
Methane is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO₂ , but it survives for shorter times in the atmosphere before being broken down; there is far less of it in the atmosphere - about 1,800 parts per billion (ppb). The global impact of methane on climate change is about half than carbon dioxide. The recent increase of methane in the atmosphere could be due to growing Asia industrialization and drying out of tropical wetlands; another suggested hypothesis is the release of methane from thawing Arctic permafrost ( permanently frozen ground). Permafrost contains large stores of carbon, in the form of plants or animal bones. Scientists fear that, if Arctic will go on warming and permafrost thaws, carbon could be released in the atmosphere as methane, boosting further temperature increase.

Selected web sites :

Carbon Dioxide, Methane Rise Sharply in 2007 From NOAA web site, April 2008

Hints of methane renewed rise, BBC News, April 24, 2008

Global warming could release permafrost carbon LiveScience

Climate Change - Thematic portal, UNEP web site

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