Study: Carbon emissions highest in 66 million years since dinosaur age

London, (IINA) - A recent study revealed that humans are producing heat-trapping carbon into the atmosphere 10 times faster than carbon has been released during any period of natural global warming in the last 66 million years, Yahoo News reported.
Scientists said that the pace of emissions even mirrors the onset of the biggest-known natural surge in fossil records, which drove temperatures up by an estimated 5 degrees Celsius and damaged marine life by making the oceans acidic.
The so-called Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is often seen as a parallel to the risks from the current buildup of carbon in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels and signals a current push into a dangerous and uncharted territory.
“Aside from the huge impact that killed the dinosaurs, what we are seeing now is the fastest rate of climate change in 66 million years”, said Andy Ridgwell, a paleo-climatologist at the University of Bristol in England and a co-author of the study.
The parallels to PETM are striking: massive carbon emissions, followed by rapid global warming and major loss of species. Fifty-six million years ago, those extinctions took place mainly in the ocean.
In the present, the “sixth great extinction” is underway both in the sea and on land. UN studies project that temperatures could rise by up to 4.8 C this century, which would cause floods, droughts and more powerful storms if emissions rise unchecked.
“Our results suggest that future ocean acidification and possible effects on marine calcifying organisms will be more severe than during the PETM”, said Richard Zeebe, lead author of the study.
AG/IINA

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