the Previous “global warming” is far from the current level.
Climate scientists often say that the levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere were the highest in a million years. However, the new study, published in Geology, says the figure: in fact, they are the most high over 23 million years of earth history.
American scientists from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL) studied the fossil remains of ancient plant tissues. They are followed in the fossil record the number of changes of stable isotopes carbon-12 and carbon-13. It allows you to set the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a particular time.
Amounting to “timeline” CO2, researchers found that over 23 million years, there was no spike of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere up to the beginning of human-induced global warming. This means that ecosystems may be more sensitive to increased levels of greenhouse gases than previously thought.
In the past there has been “global warming”: in the middle Miocene (17-15 million years ago) and middle Pliocene (5-3 million years ago). They have led to serious consequences for the flora and fauna, although the increase in carbon dioxide levels in both cases were small in comparison with the current situation, the researchers say.
At the end of 2019, the UN Secretary-General, antónio Guterres said that countries ‘ efforts to prevent global warming “completely inadequate”, and there is a danger that climate change may pass the “point of no return.”
According to the UN experts, carbon dioxide emissions should be reduced to 7.6% per year over the next decade. The only way global warming can be kept at around 2 degrees Celsius.
Earlier it was reported that the pandemic coronavirus has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 17% on the day. According to analysts, if current restrictions will last until mid-June, by the end of 2020, CO2 emissions in the world will decline by 4%, but if at least some of the restrictions will be extended until the end of the year, the amount of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere will be reduced by 8%.
Anna Lysenko
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