Background:

Using CO2 data from package titled “datasets” in RStudio, I am observing the Mauna Loa Atmospheric CO2 Concentration from the years 1959 to 1997. Mauna Loa is located on the island of Hawaii and is considered the largest volcano on earth. Climate scientists have been studying this area since the late 1950’s mostly because it is so remote from large populations of people, thus a prime destination to observe.

Command:

summary(co2)
##    Min. 1st Qu.  Median    Mean 3rd Qu.    Max. 
##   313.2   323.5   335.2   337.1   350.3   366.8

Plot:

Results:

The rise in CO2 emissions are unequivocal. CO2 emissions in Mauna Loa have only increased since the 1950’s, which suggests that in high density areas CO2 emissions are much greater. Assuming these emissions keep increasing, the climate will hit 400ppm of CO2 which would be a first in three million years. This prehistoric climate obviously is an indication of a much larger problem. High levels of CO2 is usually considered by scientists a key factor in global warming, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Earth System Research Lab.

Citations

Dr. Pieter Tans, NOAA/ESRL (www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/) and Dr. Ralph Keeling, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (scrippsco2.ucsd.edu/).