CO2 and Global Warming

Background

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere was consistently around 280 parts per million (ppm). The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere reached 377.7 ppm in March of 2004, resulting in the largest 10-year average increase up to that time. According to scientists from National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) the monthly mean CO2 concentration level peaked at 421 ppm in May 2022. An Organisation for Economic Co-Operations and Development (OECD) report predicts a CO2 level of 685 ppm by 2050.

The editors of Scientific Today magazine have asked your team to address these claims of the current reported and future predictions of CO2 concentration levels. They provided two data sets (CO2 Data Set 1 & Temps Data Set 2) to assist in your research.