CO2 changes

The picture below was drawn by plot_co2.pro which is written in the IDL language. It shows the record of CO2 from the Vostok ice core, Siple and Law Domes, the Mauna Loa atmospheric measurements, and all four combined.

I think its interesting to plot them all together, because it shows just how rapid the recent CO2 increase has been - on the Vostok timescale, its a step change.

The scale on each plot is in years; the Vostok one goes back to about 150,000 BP; the others are far shorter. Vostok, Siple and Law Domes records are from air inclusions in ice cores; Mauna Loa is measured.

You can see the data files I used. They are vostok.co2.dat, siple.co2.dat, law.co2.dat, maunaloa.co2.dat.

The original data files are from cdiac who have additional pictures.