Image:Carbon Dioxide 400kyr Rev.png

From Global Warming Art

Carbon_Dioxide_400kyr_Rev.png; Other sizes: 100, 200, 300, 450

Description

Expanded view of changes in the carbon dioxide concentration and flux over the last 250 years.

This figure shows the variations in concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere during the last 400 thousand years as measured from ice cores. Throughout most of the record, the large changes can be related to glacial/interglacial cycles within the current ice age. Although the glacial cycles are most directly caused by changes in the Earth's orbit (i.e. Milankovitch cycles), these changes also influence the carbon cycle, which in turn feeds back into the glacial system.

Since the Industrial Revolution, circa 1800, the burning of fossil fuels has caused a dramatic increase of CO₂ in the atmosphere, reaching levels which are likely unprecedented in the last 20 million years [1]. This increase has been implicated as a primary cause of global warming.

Copyright

This figure was prepared by Robert A. Rohde from publicly available data.

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Data Sources

(blue) Vostok ice core:

[abstract] [DOI] Petit J.R., Jouzel J., Raynaud D., Barkov N.I., Barnola J.M., Basile I., Bender M., Chappellaz J., Davis J., Delaygue G., Delmotte M., Kotlyakov V.M., Legrand M., Lipenkov V., Lorius C., Pépin L., Ritz C., Saltzman E., Stievenard M. (1999). "Climate and Atmospheric History of the Past 420,000 years from the Vostok Ice Core, Antarctica". Nature 399: 429-436.
(green) EPICA ice core:

[DOI] Monnin, E., E.J. Steig, U. Siegenthaler, K. Kawamura, J. Schwander, B. Stauffer, T.F. Stocker, D.L. Morse, J.-M. Barnola, B. Bellier, D. Raynaud, and H. Fischer (2004). "Evidence for substantial accumulation rate variability in Antarctica during the Holocene, through synchronization of CO₂ in the Taylor Dome, Dome C and DML ice cores". Earth and Planetary Science Letters 224: 45-54.
(red) Law Dome ice core:

D.M. Etheridge, L.P. Steele, R.L. Langenfelds, R.J. Francey, J.-M. Barnola and V.I. Morgan (1998). "Historical CO₂ records from the Law Dome DE08, DE08-2, and DSS ice cores" in Trends: A Compendium of Data on Global Change. Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A.: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy.
(cyan) Siple Dome ice core:

Neftel, A., H. Friedli, E. Moor, H. Lötscher, H. Oeschger, U. Siegenthaler, and B. Stauffer (1994). "Historical CO2 record from the Siple Station ice core" in Trends: A Compendium of Data on Global Change. Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A.: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy.
(black) Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii:

Keeling, C.D. and T.P. Whorf (2004). "Atmospheric CO2 records from sites in the SIO air sampling network" in Trends: A Compendium of Data on Global Change. Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A.: Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy.