Long-time readers of this semi-dormant thread will recall that the CO2 monitor on Mauna Loa in Hawaii has been showing rises in CO2 levels for a long time now. Here’s the latest:
No improvement in trend. But now this monitor is being forced offline:
Lava flow from the ongoing eruption of the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii has knocked out power and cut off access to an observatory that has recorded the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere since 1958.
Mauna Loa started erupting the evening of 27 November. Initially, the lava was confined to the volcano’s summit caldera, but on 28 November, the Northeast Rift Zone – a section on the side of the volcano where the surface can crack and split – also started erupting. This caused lava to flow upslope of the Mauna Loa Observatory, according to the US Geological Survey.
At 6.30pm local time on 28 November instruments at the observatory lost power, according to a statement from the University of California, San Diego. The observatory is run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and hosts instruments measuring changes in the atmosphere including the flux of greenhouse gases. [“Mauna Loa eruption interrupts key record of atmospheric CO2,” James Dinneen, NewScientist (10 December 2022, paywall)]
The article also states that
The observatory was located on Mauna Loa to ensure measurements weren’t impacted by local changes to CO2, such as emissions from cars or cities. The lack of plants on the volcanic rock meant records also wouldn’t be affected by the respiration of nearby plants.
But they don’t address emissions from local volcanoes, so I wonder.
