Automatic scenario · 1957 → today Journey ~3 min
← Interactive monitor1.46 bombs/s · 1957
Annual absorption rate (Δ OHC) 2.9 ZJ/yr — about one bomb per second
Last second: — pulses (expected ~1)
Step 1 / 14
Journey complete — from the first work on CO₂ (1957) to the 2025 pace.
Revelle & Suess — the ocean does not absorb everything
Roger Revelle and Hans Suess (Scripps, funded by the Office of Naval Research) show the ocean absorbs only part of emitted CO₂. Revelle writes that humanity is conducting a « large-scale geophysical experiment ». The same year, Humble Oil (Exxon predecessor) researchers publish their own measurements of fossil carbon in the atmosphere. The ocean already absorbs about 1.5 Hiroshima bombs per second (1958–1985 trend), a pace that will roughly quadruple on average over the last twenty years.
Physical indicators
- Atmospheric CO₂
- 314 ppm
- GHG equivalent (CO₂e)
- n/a before 1979
- Global temperature
- +0.32 °C vs pre-industrial
- Ocean acidification
- pH 8.12 (+12% H⁺)
CO₂: NOAA Mauna Loa. CO₂e: NOAA AGGI, long-lived gases, aerosols excluded (since 1979). Temperature: HadCRUT5 vs 1850–1900; 2025: Forster et al. 2026. pH: order of magnitude.
The curve uses the 20-year rolling slope (least squares) to smooth interannual variability. Recent annual gains are reported separately; 2025: +23 ± 8 ZJ according to Pan et al. 2026.