Greenhouse Gases Are Rapidly Changing the Atmosphere

On Tuesday the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its annual index of 20 key greenhouse gases.  It shows that their direct influence on the climate has risen 140 percent since 1750, with 40 percent of that rise coming in just the past 26 years. That increase is almost entirely due to human activities and has caused the planet to warm 1.8°F (1°C) above pre-industrial temperatures.

The index takes greenhouse gas measurements from about 80 ships and observatories around the world — gathered in all their parts per million and parts per billion glory — and boils them down into a simple numerical index, which defines the rise from 1700-1990 as 100 percent or simply 1.  This year’s number:  1.4.

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