This widget displays the current concentration of atmospheric CO2 as measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. Measurements are taken with high precision instruments at a remote location where CO2 is well mixed in the atmosphere, more than two miles above sea level.
The world's most current data for atmospheric CO2 is from measurements at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. These high-precision measurements were started by Dave Keeling in March 1958.
Today, the monthly average concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within a week after each month ends.
The widget from CO2Now.org is updated simultaneously--shortly after the latest CO2 measurements is made public from the Mauna Loa Observatory. You can get the CO2 update almost as soon as the changes can be recorded by scientists.
The atmospheric air samples are analyzed and reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from a laboratory in Boulder Colorado, also in the United States.
The widget is named after Jule Charney, the distinguished MIT meteorologist who led a nine-member Ad Hoc Group of Carbon Dioxide and Climate. This group was appointed by US President Jimmy Carter in 1979.
After meeting for five days at the National Academy of Science's summer study center, in Woods Hole, Massachussetts, the group affirmed, "If carbon dioxide continues to increase, the study group finds no reason to doubt that climate change will result and no reason to believe that these changes will be negligible.
CO2 Data Set
Original data file created by NOAA Measuring Location: Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii Data Source: Earth Systems Research Laboratory (ESRL) / National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Why is CO2 significant?
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the chief greenhouse gas that results from human activities and causes global warming and climate change. To see whether enough is being done at the moment to solve these global problems, there is no single indicator as complete and current as the monthly updates for atmospheric CO2 from the Mauna Loa Observatory.
What is the current trend?
At least since the 1958 start of atmospheric CO2 measurements with high-precision instruments, the rate of increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration has accelerated from decade to decade. The latest atmospheric CO2 data is consistent with a continuation of this long-standing trend.
What level is safe?
The upper safety limit for atmospheric CO2 is 350 parts per million (ppm). Atmospheric CO2 levels have stayed higher than 350 ppm since early 1988.
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