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Weekly Atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa

Provided by: University of Oslo |Published on: April 27, 2021

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Synopsis

This short animated video shows the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide from 2007-2021.
These measurements were taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawai'i.

Subjects: Earth and Space Sciences

Authors: University of Oslo

Region: North America, USA - West, United States, Global, Hawai'i

Languages: English

Positives

The lines on this animated graph build on each other, showing exactly how much atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased in recent years.

Additional Prerequisites

Students should have a basic understanding of climate change and the greenhouse effect.
Students should know that carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas most responsible for global heating.
Scientist Charles David Keeling began measuring atmospheric carbon dioxide at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii in 1958.

Differentiation

This would be a great video to show at the beginning of a lesson on climate change. It may be powerful to show this video before explaining the context. You can have students write down three "noticings" and three "wonderings" about this video.
You can ask students about the average increase per year and see if they can figure out how decomposition and photosynthesis affect the level of CO2 throughout the year.
Students can access real time data from NOAA to see current levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

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