Jul 13, 2017

Climate-Altering Gases Spiked in 2016, Federal Scientists Report

by
Lisa Friedman
,
The New York Times
In March, Jennifer Morse, a climate technician, unloaded air sampling equipment into the small wooden shed used to collect data at the Niwot Ridge research site of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration near Nederland, Colo. Photo: Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post, via Getty Images
In March, Jennifer Morse, a climate technician, unloaded air sampling equipment into the small wooden shed used to collect data at the Niwot Ridge research site of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration near Nederland, Colo. Photo: Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post, via Getty Images

Annual greenhouse gas emissions rose more quickly [in 2016] than they have in nearly three decades, an increase scientists attributed in part to a strong El Niño weather pattern, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported this week.

The Annual Greenhouse Gas Index also shows that global emissions of greenhouse gases that lead to warming, primarily driven by the burning of fossil fuels and other human activity, increased 40 percent between 1990 and 2016, a significant measure of man’s influence on the climate.