Climate Change - Charting the rising levels of carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are rising.


The small up-and-down pattern is caused by changes during each year - in the summer in the northern hemisphere, there is more photosynthesis which causes CO2 levels to fall.

The Keeling Curve is named after the scientist who first produced accurate measurements of carbon dioxide in the air - Charles David Keeling.  


Charles David Keeling in the lab.

Keeling's collection of data began in 1958.

Concentration is measured in parts per million (ppm)

Ice core data shows humans have never breathed air containing so much CO2.


Since Keeling began recording, CO2 has risen from 318 ppm to 400 ppm... a rise of around 25%. 

The fastest rise of CO2 in the air seen in the ice core record (800,000 years) is 20 ppm in 1000 years.

There is evidence that CO2 has never risen so fast since the extinction of the dinosaurs.

The CO2 level in the atmosphere is now rising at around 20 ppm per decade.

Carbon reacts with oxygen when fossil fuels are burned.


Each carbon atom joins with two oxygen atoms to make a carbon dioxide molecule. 

Measurements show that this is reducing the oxygen in the air as time passes.
Several scientific organisations measure the gases in the air.

One major set of measurements are from a laboratory in Hawaii.

This is all evidence that extra carbon dioxide in the air comes from burning fossil fuels. 

We are time-warping vast amounts of ancient carbon (which we are combining with current oxygen) into the modern atmosphere.

In 2010 about 9 Gigatonnes of Carbon (GtC) were emitted from burning fossil fuels, as 33 Gigatonnes of CO2 gas.

How much is 33 Gigatonnes? 
33 billion tonnes or 33,000,000,000,000,000 grams.
9 Gigatonnes of carbon weighs about the same as 132 billion people. 

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