The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in May 2021 hit the highest level ever measured, showing the global coronavirus pandemic did not decrease overall CO2 emissions despite pausing global economies for months.
Carbon dioxide is the most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, it is added from activities like burning fossil fuels to generate electricity, burning oil for transportation, industrial activity like manufacturing, agriculture and deforestation according to NOAA.
Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere, leading to increasing average temperatures and consequences like rising sea levels, ocean acidification and decreasing amounts of Arctic sea ice.The Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory sits high atop Hawaii's largest mountain in order to sample well-mixed background air free of local pollution, as seen in 2019.
May is typically the highest CO2 measurement of the year as spring and summer in the northern hemisphere means more plants start to remove CO2 from the atmosphere in the following months.
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