A 50 Year Record of Atmospheric CO2 and Its Relation to Fossil Fuel Emissions
Date: Monday, September 26 @ 15:00:00 MDT Topic: The Fate of Fossil-Fuel Emissions
by Steven Piper (for Dave Keeling)
Measurements of atmospheric CO2 began in
1957-1958 at a wide range of locations, including at fixed stations, on ice
floes, on oceanic expeditions, and on aircraft flights, with logistical and
financial support provided by the International Geophysical Year (IGY) program.
Although the measurement effort was reduced in scope immediately following the
IGY, today, measurements are made at more than 100 locations. Over this same time interval, emissions of CO2
from fossil fuel combustion increased from 2.3 thousand million metric tons per
year (GtC/yr) in 1958 to 7.1 GtC/yr in 2003 [Marland et
al., 2005, and personal communication]. More than 90% of this CO2 was
released into the northern hemisphere where it lingered before mixing fully
world-wide. The atmospheric CO2
concentration, in response, rose faster in the northern hemisphere than in the
southern, the interhemispheric difference increasing from near zero during the
IGY to about 3 parts per million (ppm) in 2003. For all northern hemisphere
stations where our program has measured CO2, the gradient changes
relative to the South Pole are generally proportional to the rate of fossil
fuel CO2 emissions, disregarding seasonal and short term interannual
variability in the CO2 data.
Here, we use this fact to diagnose how the carbon cycle has evolved over
the past half century.
Link to Abstract
Link to Slides
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