CO2 2005 Record High Raises Concerns over Polar Vulnerability
08.11.2006 - Logistics, Other
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the International Council for Science (ICSU) said on 6 November that the International Polar Year 2007-2008 was all the more significant because greenhouse gas levels had reached record highs in 2005.
Dr David Carlson, Director of the International Polar Programme Office which oversees IPY says:
"The rise in global concentrations of CO2 and nitrous oxide (N2O) over the past few decades will continue to stoke global warming which has a pronounced effect in polar regions. IPY next year, and the associated launch of hundreds of scientific research projects focussed on polar conditions and polar ecosystems comes none too soon."
Dr Carlson also noted that "the scientific community stands ready to respond to the imperative to gather as much data about the effects of global warming on polar areas as quickly as possible - changes in these regions will have a massive influence on the well-being of the rest of the planet."
