They predict that if the burning of fossil fuels continues to grow, CO2 levels within two generations will match those of around 50 million years ago when crocodiles roamed the Arctic.
"If we allow earth's climate system to catch up with that level of CO2, we are heading back towards worlds that haven't been experienced ever before by the human species and that really are prehistoric in terms of the climate change involved."Greenhouse gas concentrations are the cumulative result of past and present emissions of a range of substances, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.
These greenhouse gases trap heat close to the Earth's surface, driving up temperatures. This planetary warming threatens global food supplies, makes weather events - such as tropical storms and heatwaves - more extreme and increases the risk of flooding caused by sea level rise. After establishing their age, the shells were sifted from the mud and then broken down in the lab to reveal the chemical element - boron."Because the atmospheric CO2 and the ocean pH are closely coupled, knowing the ancient ocean pH enables us to understand how CO2 evolved over this time."The geologists say their findings are the most complete history of CO2 levels over the past 66 million years.
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