54: Changes in Greenhouse Gases Concentrations

Question 1

What were CO2 atmospheric levels in the early 1900s?

Answer 1

Nobel laureate Svante Arrhenius predicted that increasing amounts of CO2 being released were going to warm the planet

Question 2

What occurred in 1958?

Answer 2

Charles David Keeling took the first measurement of atmospheric CO2 levels
- daily measurements have been taken since then at the weather station in Mauna Loa Hawaii

Question 3

What is the keeling curve?

Answer 3

carbon dioxide concentration at Mauna Loa Observatory
- graph shows carbon dioxide concentration (ppm) every year

Question 4

What does the keeling curve show?

Answer 4

graph shows a great increase in CO2 levels since 1958 (exponential) and a serrated shape of curve

Question 5

What is the latest CO2 reading?

Answer 5

416.29 ppm

Question 6

What causes the zigzag of the Keeling Curve?

Answer 6

seasonal changes in the level of photosynthesis

Question 7

Are CO2 levels higher in summer or in winter?

Answer 7

winter

Question 8

What is happening to the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere?

Answer 8

1. carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane levels continue to increase
2. FCs increased and have started to decrease due to the Montreal Protocol
3. HFCs are being used to replace CFCs, levels are increasing

Question 9

As CO2 levels increase, what happens to the temperature?

Answer 9

temperatures increase