Examining Greenhouse Gases 800,000 Years Ago
16.05.2008 - Other
A team of scientists from the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA) has managed to retrieve an ice core containing information on greenhouse gas concentrations that date back 150,000 years further than any core previous studies have found.
The data retrieved from the latest EPICA research confirms that carbon dioxide and methane concentrations have never, in the 800,000 years of data collected, been as high as those collected today.
Carbon dioxide concentrations
Today: 380 parts per million (ppm)
Range over past 800,000 years: 200-300 ppm
Methane concentrations
Today: 1,800 ppm
Range over past 800,000 years: 400-700 ppm
According to Edward Brook, an associate professor of geosciences at Oregon State University, "the remarkably strong correlation of methane and carbon dioxide with temperature reconstructions also stand."
