UN says 2004 set record highs for greenhouse gases in atmosphere

GENEVA (AP) - Greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere reached record highs in 2004 and are still climbing, the

World Meteorological Organization

World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday.

"Global observations co-ordinated by WMO show that levels of carbon dioxide, the most abundant greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, continue to increase steadily and show no signs of levelling off," said Michel Jarraud, secretary general of the UN climate and weather agency.

The agency made no reference to global warming, which many scientists have blamed on the heat-trapping greenhouse gases created in the burning of fossil fuels. According to

NASA

NASA, 2005 had the highest annual average surface temperature worldwide since instrument recordings began in the late 1800s.

But Leonard Barrie, chief of atmospheric research at WMO, said the greenhouse gases clearly posed a problem.

"Given that the lifetime of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is 50 to 200 years depending on how you calculate it . . . it doesn't take a nuclear scientist to state that we're going to have this problem for a long time," he told reporters at UN offices in Geneva.