Atmospheric CO2 levels hit a record high in 2016 but not from man-made sources

This is just publicity seeking — but as long as the papers keep printing it, some galoot will keep churning it out and enjoy seeing his name in the papers.

It’s not even news. CO2 levels have been edging up for many years but there hasn’t been a concomitant rise in temperatures. From 1945 to 1975, there was a temperature plateau, yet CO2 levels rose sharply at that time. CO2 levels do NOT drive temperatures up.

And the article below generalizes from just ONE YEAR! That is a travesty of science. You can’t extract generalizations from one instance!

But if you are going to be that fine-grained, why not mention that for part of 2016, CO2 levels went down to 401 ppm — or mention that in 2017 levels went as high as 409 ppm before dropping back to 403 ppm?

Clearly, CO2 levels are rising but in an erratic and unpredictable way that makes absurd any dependence on one year for significance.

The Mauna Loa CO2 record from Dec 15 to date is below. Column 4 is the average.

Note that the high average is mainly the product of some high levels in the middle of the year.  There were also some rather low levels. And the December 2016 figure was only a little above the January figure.

Note, however, that these are total CO2 levels in the atmosphere, not just human emissions of CO2.  Human emissions did not rise in 2016.  So the rise observed was NOT due to human activities.  It was the product of natural factors.

The pretense below that that humans were responsible for the rise and are therefore to blame for something is plainly a bare-faced FRAUD.

The 2016 figures are in fact good evidence that CO2 levels can rise regardless of what humans do.  They tell us NOTHING about human activity

And what’s this nonsense about melting ice? Ninety-six percent of the world’s glacial ice is in the Antarctic and that is GROWING, not melting.

It also averages about 30 degrees below zero so a global temperature rise of 2 degrees would melt it only at the extreme margins, if at all.  Do I have to mention that the melting point of ice is zero degrees Celsius? From the Daily Mail:

The amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere grew at a record rate in 2016 to a level not seen for millions of years, the United Nations has revealed.This increase could fuel a staggering

This increase could fuel a staggering 20-meter rise in sea levels and add 3°C to temperatures.

Experts hope the findings will encourage environment ministers around the world to work on new guidelines for the Paris climate accord.

Atmospheric concentrations of CO2, the main man-made greenhouse gas, hit 403.3 parts per million (ppm) in 2016, up from 400.0 in 2015, the UN World Meteorological Organisation said in its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.

That growth rate was 50 percent faster than the average over the past decade, driving CO2 levels 45 percent above pre-industrial levels and further outside the range of 180-280 ppm seen in recent cycles of ice ages and warmer periods.

The WMO said: ‘Today’s CO2 concentration of ~400 ppm exceeds the natural variability seen over hundreds of thousands of years.’

The latest data adds to the urgency of a meeting in Bonn next month when environment ministers from around the world will work on guidelines for the Paris climate accord backed by 195 countries in 2015.

Read more at Greenie Watch