Climate Modeling - Beyond Smoke and Mirrors - page 32

390

370

350

330

310

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Year

Data from the observatory at Mauna Loa, Hawaii.
Atmospheric CO concentration versus year, including Keeling

fig. 3.1

s and
more recent observations. (Source: Pieter Tans, NOAA Earth System
Research Laboratory, Boulder, CO, and Ralph Keeling, Scripps
Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA)

'

Revelle because of his interest in measuring atmospheric
CO ) began publishing his measurements of the amount
of atmospheric CO in the late s data were

taken at an observatory built on a mountain in Hawaii,
and showed a small saw-toothed oscillation in the amount
of CO in the atmosphere superposed on a generally
upward trend.
For the

s. Keeling '

first few years, the saw-toothed oscillations,
caused by seasonal variations, prompted considerable
excitement. After several years, however, the big news
turned out to be the long-term upward trend in concen-
tration of this greenhouse gas ( Figure ]. This was

no tiny effect, but a major change in one of the important

. )[