CO2 in Salt Lake City

Tutorial

Reading CO₂ graphs
CO₂ variation
Long-term CO₂ trends
The carbon cycle
Measuring CO₂

Long-term CO₂ trends

While atmospheric carbon dioxide exhibits radical changes over very short periods or time (i.e. hours to days to weeks), it also changes over the long term (i.e. decades to centuries). In addition to the below cited Mauna Loa, Hawaii, NOAA time-series, the long-term rise in carbon dioxide concentration can be observed in our longest running Salt Lake City station.

Here is the longest direct-measurement CO₂ time series. This graph shows the long-term rise in carbon dioxide concentration. The annual oscillation is due to summer photosynthesis and winter respiration. Read more about these data and this image at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) web page.

This graph shows the same Mauna Loa data set as above along with our own University of Utah data. The large swings in concentration in the University of Utah data are due to winter-time urban inversions.