Name : Pramit Ghosh

Student ID : 1510139

“I pledge that I will not commit any academic dishonesty including

plagiarism, copying, cheating on examinations, collaborating inappropriately,
or any other forms of violation of the ethical standards expected by BUET
from its student body.”

It is claimed that the concentration of atmospheric CO2is higher than at any time in
the past 650,000 years –how do we know that? How is the concentration of CO2in
the atmosphere measured?

Concentration of atmospheric CO2 is now 387 ppm which is higher than at any time in the past
650,000 years according to the scientists at the Marina Loa observatory in Hawaii. The
concentration of CO2 has risen by 1.5 ppm each year from 1970 to 2000. But from 2000, the
concentration rate has jumped to 2.1 ppm.

IR Detectors: CO2 and other compound gases absorb Infrared radiation in a different way. As a
result, IR detector is used for CO2 analyzing. Since the measured gas isn’t in contact with the
sensor, they are stable. They can also withstand dirt, dust and humidity.
Instruments for measuring CO2 concentration must be very precise at least to 1ppm.

For more precise measurement, PLS (Pulsing Laser Detector), LIDAR (Laser Induced
Differential Absorption Radar) are used. They are operated at wavelength of 2 um. This
wavelength is suitable for CO2 being absorbing. But water is not. Wavelength has to be selected
such that CO2 and H2O has different absorbing condition.