A recently published animation shows how the levels and scale of anthropogenic emissions are changing.
In animation, emissions from fossil burningfuels are shown in orange, and those from biomass combustion are shown in red. The biomass in question is living or dead vegetation that is burned to clear land for agriculture. Carbon dioxide produced by terrestrial ecosystems is shown in green, while oceanic ones are shown in blue.
The model also showed where carbon dioxidetaken up by marine and terrestrial ecosystems, such as rainforests, through photosynthesis (in the oceans, this occurs through the life of algae). Together, these natural ecosystems absorb half of anthropogenic emissions each year and play a vital role in climate change mitigation by acting as "carbon sinks".
Three videos show the tides and flow of CO2 in different regions of the world and show where the gas is emitted and absorbed throughout the year.
Carbon dioxide emissions are dangerous. It is CO2 that is the cause of the increase in the average temperature on the planet and the acceleration of global warming.
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