According to a report published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Carbon dioxide levels in the global atmosphere have reached a record average level in March, surpassing 400 parts per million for the first time in two million years

NOAA’s Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network had previously collected readings of 400 ppm at individual sites, like Arctic locations in 2012 and its Hawaiian observatory in 2013. They also collects air samples in flasks from 40 sites around the world. The sites include ship decks and remote islands.

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But this was the first time 400 ppm had been reached as a global average.

Pieter Tans, the network's lead scientist, stated that the high level alone is not what concerns scientists the most, as the pace at which the concentration of carbon dioxide is increasing is the real problem. Life on Earth has the capacity to adapt to life threatening changes if they occur slowly, but the fast pace of the carbon dioxide increase made the researchers compare it to an explosion, something our planet is not used to.

The burning of fossil fuels is the main reason why the carbon dioxide is now increasing 100 times faster than usual. Coal, oil and gas emission have totally changed the pace at which carbon dioxide rises, 61 parts per million in the last 35 years, compared to 80 ppm in 6,000 years in the pre-industrialized era.

“This marks the fact that humans burning fossil fuels have caused global carbon dioxide concentrations to rise more than 120 parts per million since pre-industrial times. Half of that rise has occurred since 1980,” Tans said.

Ed Dlugokencky, the NOAA scientist who manages the global network, said his team gets a better global average at the remote sites.

“We choose to sample at these sites because the atmosphere itself serves to average out gas concentrations that are being affected by human and natural forces," Dlugokencky added.

In order to stop the carbon dioxide rise, scientist estimate that about 80 percent of the fossil fuel burning would have to stop. Nonetheless, in order to see any decrease, the reduction will have to be even greater.

TagsNOAA Carbon Dioxide Levels Surpass an Alarming Record, NOAA, carbon dioxide, global warming, Greenhouse Gas, greenhouse effect