Climate Change: A Guide For Teachers Of All Disciplines

Assignment 2

This assignment looks at the role of anthropogenic CO2 versus natural CO2 variability in
the geological record. In order to understand this very important issue, you will make use
of the CO2 abundance measurements over long timescales (414,000 years to present from
the Vostok Ice Core in Antarctica) and over shorter timescales (from 1958 to present
from the Mauna Loa Observatory). Data attached in excel sheet.

1. Make a plot of CO2 abundance versus time for both the Vostok and the Mauna Loa
datasets.
2. What is the maximum and minimum abundances (and thus the range) of CO2 in the
Earth’s atmosphere over the last 400,000 years?
3. From 1958 to present?