An ominous sign! CO2 levels are now same as they were 14 million years ago

In a new study, it has been found that the carbon dioxide level currently in the atmosphere is the same as it was 14 million years ago, which reflectsupon the deteriorating climatic conditions and the grim future ahead.

The paper, which was published in the Science journal, covers the time period of 66 million years and analyses geochemical and biological signatures from the past era for reconstructing the historic CO2 record with detailed precision.

"It really brings it home to us that what we are doing is very, very unusual in Earth's history," said lead author Baerbel Hoenisch of the Columbia Climate School's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, while speaking to news agency AFP.

Along with other things, the new analysis discovered that the last time there was the presence of 420 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the air was between 14-16 million years ago when ice was not present in Greenland and the ancestors of humans had started transitioning from forests to grasslands.

This is even further back than the 3 to 5 million years which were studied in the prior analyses.

Till the late 1700s, the atmospheric carbon dioxide was around 280 ppm, which meant humans had already led to increase of the greenhouse gas by about 50 per cent which traps heat in the atmosphere and the planet has been warmed by 1.2 degrees Celsius in comparison to before industrialisation.

"What's important is that Homo, our species, has only evolved 3 million years ago. And so our civilisation is tuned to sea level as it is today, to having warm tropics and cool poles and temperate regions that have a lot of rainfall,” said Hoenisch.

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Global CO2 emissions can reach between 600-800 ppm by 2100

It has been estimated that if global CO2 emissions continue rising, it can reach between 600 - 800 ppm by the year 2100.

Such kinds of levels were seen during the Eocene, 30-40 million years ago, before ice had covered Antarctica and the world's flora and fauna appeared vastly different.

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The latest study is the result of seven years of work by a team of 80 researchers across 16 countries and is now seen as the scientific community's updated consensus.

No new data was collected by the team but the already published work was synthesised, re-evaluated and validated on the basis of updated science and they were categorised accordingly and the highest rated was combined into a new timeline.

(With inputs from agencies)