Scientists on both sides of the debate generally agree that the planet is warming (see above and there are a bucket-load more citations). Professor Bob Carter is one among few who claim the planet has undergone cooling recently.
The degree of warming is debated. Whether that warming is a result of an increasing level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is also debated.
We have discussed that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are vitally important in keeping this planet warm enough for us to live on. But is the level of carbon dioxide rising and, if so, by how much? If the level is rising, are humans responsible for the increase or could there be some other explanation?
C. David Keeling of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography began measuring levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at a facility of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Mauna Loa in Hawaii in 1958. Recording continues to this day. The record constitutes the longest record of such direct measurements in the world. One of the reasons for recording at this particular location is because it is a very long way from any potential source of man-made carbon dioxide. The level in 1958 was reported at 315 parts per million. In 2011 the level had grown to 390 parts per million, an increase over 53 years of 24 percent. The graph is a near straight line.
But does a rising level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere coincide with rising global temperature?
The Mauna Loa record shows a steady increase in the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology reports a rise in average temperature in Australia since the 1970s which generally coincides with records from around the world.
The two records seem to coincide, but does that mean they correlate?
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