Canadian Journal of Pure & Applied Sciences

Abstract: The rise in global temperature is due to the increase in greenhouse gases, primarily in the form of carbon dioxide (CO2) - which has a rate of increase five times larger than before the pre-industrial era (Jansen et al., 2007). Historical atmospheric levels of CO2 obtained from glacial ice cores (Etheridge et al., 1998) can be combined with atmospheric CO2 levels collected on Mauna Loa in Hawaii (Keeling et. al., 2004; Pales and Keeling, 1965) to provide a record dating from the geologic past. Monthly readings at Mauna Loa since 1958, and now expanded to a network of worldwide sampling stations, provide essentially real-time monitoring of atmospheric CO2 levels.