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Relentless climate change 2024

January 7th, 2025 No comments

Here are the changes in temperature and atmospheric CO2 concentration during my lifetime (Fig. 1), that is, from when I was born (in orange) to 2024 (in red). That is, CO₂ continues to accumulate in the atmosphere, and temperatures keep rising relentlessly. On average, I have witnessed an increase of 1.4°C in global temperature and 104.5 ppm (33%) in atmospheric CO₂ levels. While there are other greenhouse gasses, CO2 shows a strong correlation with global air temperature (Fig. 2). 

Figure 1. Global surface temperature (daily; left) and atmospheric CO2 concentration (monthly; right) along the year. Data from 1940 (temperature) and 1958 (CO2) to 2024. In red are the values for 2024; in orange for the year I was born!
Figure 2. Relationship between atmospheric CO2 concentration (in ppm) and global surface air temperature (oC); data are annual averages from 1958 to 2024.

Data sources: Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory