Concentration of carbon dioxide is about 1.4 times what it was before the Industrial Revolution. How much and how fast will Earth warm if carbon dioxide concentrations double the pre-industrial?
It is virtually certain our world will continue to warm over this century and beyond. The exact amount of warming that will occur in the coming century depends largely on the energy choices that we make now and in the next few decades.
As of 2021, the warming effect of long-lived greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere had increased by 49% compared to 1990. Relative to pre-industrial times, today's atmosphere absorbs more than 3 extra Watts of energy per square meter.
From the African savanna to North America’s boreal forests, NOAA’s CarbonTracker tool provides insight into what natural and human processes affect the uptake, release, and transport of carbon dioxide in Earth’s lower atmosphere.
Instruments located high atop NOAA’s Boulder Atmospheric Observatory tower help scientists track carbon emissions and air quality in Colorado.
In the past 60 years, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased 100 times faster than it did during the end of the last ice age.