Secondo un nuovo comunicato dell’Organizzazione Meteorologica
Mondiale sono confermate le concentrazioni record di gas serra nell’atmosfera.
Intanto il mare si sta acidificando ad una velocità tale come era mai avvenuto in 300 milioni
di anni.
I volumi atmosferici di gas serra hanno raggiunto un nuovo
record nel 2013, la concentrazione di diossido di carbonio è cresciuta al
ritmo più rapido da quando sono iniziate rilevazioni ufficiali.
"Sappiamo senza dubbio che il nostro clima sta
cambiando e che le condizioni meteo stanno diventando sempre più estreme a
causa delle attività umane, come la combustione del carbone fossile", ha
detto il segretario generale del Wmo (Organizzazione Meteorologica Mondiale) Michel Jarraud, in una nota relativa al bollettino annuale dell'organizzazione sui gas serra.
"Le emissioni di Co2 passate, presenti e future avranno
un impatto cumulativo sia sul riscaldamento globale che sull'acidificazione
degli oceani. Le leggi della fisica non sono negoziabili", ha detto
Jarraud. "Sta scadendo il tempo".
Il volume del diossido di carbonio, il principale gas serra
emesso dalle attività umane, è stato di 396,0 parti per milione (ppm) nel 2013,
2,9 ppm più alto del 2012, il più importante aumento su anno dal 1984.
Il metano, secondo gas serra più importante, continua a
crescere ad un tasso simile a quello degli ultimi cinque anni e ha raggiunto
una media globale di 1.824 parti per miliardo.
Secondo Jarraud, il mondo ha le competenze e gli strumenti
per mantenere il riscaldamento globlale entro i 2 gradi centigradi, un
obiettivo fissato dall'Onu nel 2010. "Per dare al nostro pianeta una
chance...e ai nostri figli e nipoti un futuro. L'ignoranza non può più essere
una scusa per non agire".
Sono aumentale le emissioni di gas climalteranti prodotte
dall’attività umana ed è diminuita la capacità di assorbimento di questi da
parte del pianeta Terra. Ciò è gravissimo. In particolare gli oceani, che fungono
da meccanismo di riduzione della concentrazione di CO2 grazie a alghe ed altri
organismi marini, hanno raggiunto un grado di saturazione. I nuovi dati
mostrano che l’incremento di acidificazione delle acque oceaniche (correlato
alla Co2 assorbita) ha raggiunto una velocità che per i paleoclimatologi non si
è mai registrata negli ultimi 300milioni, quando ancora c’erano i dinosauri.
Si discuterà anche di queste gravissime questioni durante il Climate
Summit, convocato il 23 settembre dal segretario generale dell'ONU, Ban
Ki-moon.
Di seguito il comunicato in lingua originale dell'Organizzazione Meteorologica Mondiale
Record Greenhouse Gas Levels Impact Atmosphere and Oceans
Carbon Dioxide Concentration Surges
Geneva, 9 September 2014 (WMO) – The amount of greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere reached a new record high in 2013, propelled by a surge
in levels of carbon dioxide. This is
according to the World Meteorological Organization’s annual Greenhouse Gas
Bulletin, which injected even greater urgency into the need for concerted
international action against accelerating and potentially devastating climate
change.
The Greenhouse Gas Bulletin showed that between 1990 and
2013 there was a 34% increase in radiative forcing – the warming effect on our
climate – because of long-lived greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2),
methane and nitrous oxide.
In 2013, concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere was 142% of
the pre-industrial era (1750), and of methane and nitrous oxide 253% and 121%
respectively.
The observations from WMO’s Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW)
network showed that CO2 levels increased more between 2012 and 2013 than during
any other year since 1984. Preliminary data indicated that this was possibly related
to reduced CO2 uptake by the earth’s biosphere in addition to the steadily
increasing CO2 emissions.
The WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletin reports on atmospheric
concentrations – and not emissions - of greenhouse gases. Emissions represent
what goes into the atmosphere. Concentrations represent what remains in the
atmosphere after the complex system of interactions between the atmosphere,
biosphere and the oceans. About a quarter of the total emissions are taken up
by the oceans and another quarter by the biosphere, reducing in this way the
amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
The ocean cushions the increase in CO2 that would otherwise
occur in the atmosphere, but with far-reaching impacts. The current rate of
ocean acidification appears unprecedented at least over the last 300 million
years, according to an analysis in the report.
“We know without any doubt that our climate is changing and
our weather is becoming more extreme due to human activities such as the
burning of fossil fuels,” said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud.
“The Greenhouse Gas Bulletin shows that, far from falling,
the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere actually increased last
year at the fastest rate for nearly 30 years. We must reverse this trend by
cutting emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases across the board,” he said.
“We are running out of time.”
“Carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere for many hundreds
of years and in the ocean for even longer. Past, present and future CO2
emissions will have a cumulative impact on both global warming and ocean
acidification. The laws of physics are non-negotiable,” said Mr Jarraud.
“The Greenhouse Gas Bulletin provides a scientific base for
decision-making. We have the knowledge and we have the tools for action to try
keep temperature increases within 2°C to give our planet a chance and to give
our children and grandchildren a future. Pleading ignorance can no longer be an
excuse for not acting,” said Mr Jarraud.
"The inclusion of a section on ocean acidification in
this issue of WMO’s Greenhouse Gas Bulletin is appropriate and needed. It is
high time the ocean, as the primary driver of the planet’s climate and
attenuator of climate change, becomesa central part of climate change
discussions,” said Wendy Watson-Wright, Executive Secretary of the
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO.
“If global warming is not a strong enough reason to cut CO2
emissions, ocean acidification should be, since its effects are already being
felt and will increase for many decades to come. I echo WMO Secretary General
Jarraud’s concern – we ARE running out of time,” she said.
Atmospheric Concentrations
Carbon dioxide accounted for 80% of the 34% increase in
radiative forcing by long-lived greenhouse gases from 1990 to 2013, according
to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Annual
Greenhouse Gas Index.
On the global scale, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere
reached 396.0 parts per million in 2013. The atmospheric increase of CO2 from
2012 to 2013 was 2.9 parts per million, which is the largest annual increase
for the period 1984-2013. Concentrations of CO2 are subject to seasonal and
regional fluctuations. At the current rate of increase, the global annual
average CO2 concentration is set to cross the symbolic 400 parts per million
threshold in 2015 or 2016.
Methane is the second most important long-lived greenhouse
gas. Approximately 40% of methane is emitted into the atmosphere by natural
sources (e.g., wetlands and termites), and about 60 % comes from human
activities like cattle breeding, rice agriculture, fossil fuel exploitation,
landfills and biomass burning. Atmospheric methane reached a new high of about
1824 parts per billion (ppb) in 2013, due to increased emissions from
anthropogenic sources. Since 2007, atmospheric methane has been increasing
again after a temporary period of leveling-off.
Nitrous oxide (N2O)
Nitrous oxide is emitted into the atmosphere from both
natural (about 60%) and anthropogenic sources (approximately 40%), including
oceans, soil, biomass burning, fertilizer use, and various industrial
processes. Its atmospheric concentration in 2013 was about 325.9 parts per
billion. Its impact on climate, over a 100-year period, is 298 times greater
than equal emissions of carbon dioxide. It also plays an important role in the
destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer which protects us from the harmful
ultraviolet rays of the sun.
Ocean Acidification:
For the first time, this Bulletin contains a section on
ocean acidification prepared in collaboration with the International Ocean
Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP) of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission
of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO), the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR),
and the Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre (OA-ICC) of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The ocean currently absorbs one-fourth of anthropogenic CO2
emissions, reducing the increase in atmospheric CO2 that would otherwise occur
because of fossil fuel combustion. Enhanced ocean CO2 uptake alters the marine
carbonate system and lead to increasing acidity. The ocean's acidity increase
is already measurable as oceans take up about 4 kilogrammes of CO2 per day per
person.
The current rate of ocean acidification appears
unprecedented at least over the last 300 million years, based on proxy-data
from paleo archives. In the future, acidification will continue to accelerate
at least until mid-century, based on projections from Earth system models.
The potential consequences of ocean acidification on marine
organisms are complex. A major concern is the response of calcifying organisms,
such as corals, algae, mollusks and some plankton, because their ability to
build shell or skeletal material (via calcification) depends on the abundance
of carbonate ion. For many organisms, calcification declines with increased
acidification. Other impacts of acidification include reduced survival,
development, and growth rates as well as changes in physiological functions and
reduced biodiversity.
Notes for Editors
The WMO Global Atmosphere Watch Programme (www.wmo.int/gaw)
coordinates systematic observations and analysis of greenhouse gases and other
trace species. Fifty countries contributed data for the Greenhouse Gas
Bulletin. Measurement data are reported by participating countries and archived
and distributed by the World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases (WDCGG) at the
Japan Meteorological Agency. (http://ds.data.jma.go.jp/gmd/wdcgg)
The summary on ocean acidification was jointly produced by
the International Ocean Carbon Coordination Project (IOCCP) of the
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC-UNESCO), the
Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), and the Ocean Acidification
International Coordination Centre (OA-ICC) of the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA).
