An observatory high on Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano that measures carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reported its highest ever seasonal peak concentration of the greenhouse gas.
For the first time, the May average exceeded 430 parts per million, reported scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Mauna Loa Observatory and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.
"Another year, another record," said Ralph Keeling, director of the Scripps CO2 Program. "It's sad."
Carbon dioxide and other gases function like a blanket around the Earth, holding in heat and warming the atmosphere above the surface, scientists say. A broad consensus of international scientists say the rise in carbon dioxide concentrations is responsible for the globe's changing climate, helping to make natural weather events such as rainfall, drought and heat waves more extreme.
While carbon dioxide is naturally present in Earth's atmosphere, scientists say the problem is the rate at which it's increasing, driven by fossil fuel emissions. Geoscientists at the University of Utah, who participated in a 2023 study with more than 90 scientists in 16 countries, previously stated that CO2 levels in the atmosphere are higher than they've been in human history and highest in at least 14 million years.
