Published on Friday, February 16, 2007 by Reuters Greenhouse
Gases Hit New High, Rise Accelerates by Alister Doyle OSLO -
Greenhouse gases widely blamed for causing global warming have
jumped to record highs in the atmosphere, apparently stoked by
rising emissions from Asian industry, a researcher said on
Friday. "Levels are at a new high," said Kim Holmen, research
director of the Norwegian Polar Institute which oversees the
Zeppelin measuring station on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard
about 1,200 km (750 miles) from the North Pole. He told Reuters
that concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas
emitted largely by burning fossil fuels in power plants,
factories and cars, had risen to 390 parts per million (ppm)
from 388 a year ago. Levels have hit peaks almost every year in
recent decades, bolstering theories of warming, and are far
above 270 ppm before the Industrial Revolution of the 18th
century. Climate scientists say the heat-trapping gas is
blanketing the planet. Holmen said the incre