The average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hit record highs at all observation points in Japan in 2016, the Meteorological Agency said Wednesday, underscoring the continuing upward trend in levels of the global warming-causing greenhouse gas.
Data collected in Japan show the carbon dioxide concentration levels hit record highs every year since 1997, when the nation increased the number of observation points to three. The concentration increase last year was larger than the average growth over the past decade.
The record readings are believed to be due in part to a fall in carbon dioxide absorption by forests due to factors related to an El Nino climate cycle spanning from the summer of 2014 to the spring of 2016.
The agency said levels of the concentration rose 3.8 parts per million from a year earlier to 407.2 ppm in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, up 3.4 ppm to 404.9 ppm in Minamitori Island in the Ogasawara island chain and up 3.2 ppm to 407.1 ppm in Yonaguni Island, Okinawa.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said in order to limit the global temperature increase to 2 degrees above preindustrial levels, it is necessary to keep carbon dioxide concentration to below 450 ppm in 2100.
