For the first time, scientists have been able to measure the increasing capacity of carbon dioxide (CO2) to absorb heat and trap it on the Earth’s surface over a period of 11 years.

In a study led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, scientists found that CO2 was responsible for an increase of 0.2 Watts per square meter over the course of a decade, according to an International Business Times report. Not surprisingly, the study blamed the rise on fossil fuel emissions. It was published in the journal Nature.

The study is unique in that it is the first time that measurements have shown the difference in incoming solar energy and outgoing heat.

Many studies have shown that rising CO2 concentrations are leading to warming, the study establishes that link and lays out exactly how much energy is being added to the system.

The increase in CO2 by emerging economies have resulted in a record high in 2013, with 35.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide dumped into the atmosphere from both fossil fuel use and the production of cement, according to two international agencies that study the issue.

Daniel Feldman, a scientists at Berkley Lab’s Earth Sciences Division and the study’s lead author, was quoted in the report as saying that the study shows that there is amplification of the greenhouse effect due to all the CO2 that is being pumped into the atmosphere.

In order to make their observations, the team used spectroscopic instruments from the Atmosphere Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility.

They also used two other instruments to observe the CO2 contribution to heat by removing heat from clouds and water vapor.