Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Record from Cape Kumukahi, Hawaii

Graphics    Digital Data

Investigators

R.F. Keeling, S.C. Piper, A.F. Bollenbacher and J.S. Walker
Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
University of California,
La Jolla, California 92093-0244, U.S.A.

Period of Record

1979-2007

Methods

At Cape Kumukahi weekly air samples are collected in 5-L evacuated glass flasks exposed in triplicate. Flasks are returned to the SIO for CO₂ determinations, which are made using an Applied Physics Corporation nondispersive infrared gas analyzer. In May 1983, the CO₂-in-N₂ calibration gases were replaced with CO₂-in-air calibration gases, which are currently used (Keeling et al. 2002). Data are in terms of the Scripps "03A" calibration scale.

Cape Kumukahi, Hawaii, U.S.A.
Island seashore
19°31' N, 154°49' W
3 m above MSL

Trends

On the basis of flask samples collected at Cape Kumukahi and analyzed by SIO, the annual average of the fitted concentrations of CO₂ rose from 339.24 ppmv in 1980 to 383.86 ppmv in 2007. This represents an average annual growth rate of over 1.65 ppmv per year in the fitted values at Cape Kumukahi.

References

• Bacastow, R.B., and C.D. Keeling. 1981. Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration and the observed airborne fraction. In B. Bolin (ed.), Carbon Cycle Modelling, SCOPE 16. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
• Bacastow, R.B., J.A. Adams, Jr., C.D. Keeling, D.J. Moss, T.P. Whorf, and C.S. Wong. 1980. Atmospheric carbon dioxide, the Southern Oscillation, and the weak 1975 El Niño. Science 210:66-68.
• Keeling, C.D., R.B. Bacastow, A.F. Carter, S.C. Piper, T.P. Whorf, M. Heimann, W.G. Mook, and H. Roeloffzen. 1989. A three-dimensional model of atmospheric CO₂ transport based on observed winds: 1. Analysis of observational data. In D.H. Peterson (ed.), Aspects of Climate Variability in the Pacific and the Western Americas. Geophysical Monograph 55:165-235.
• Keeling, C.D., P.R. Guenther, G. Emanuele III, A. Bollenbacher, and D.J. Moss. 2002. Scripps Reference Gas Calibration System for Carbon Dioxide-in-Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide-in-Air Standards: Revision of 1999 (with Addendum). SIO Reference Series No. 01-11.
• Keeling, C.D., S.C. Piper, R.B. Bacastow, M. Wahlen, T.P. Whorf, M. Heimann, and H.A. Meijer, Atmospheric CO₂ and ¹³CO₂ exchange with the terrestrial biosphere and oceans from 1978 to 2000: Observations and carbon cycle implications, pages 83-113, in "A History of Atmospheric CO₂ and its effects on Plants, Animals, and Ecosystems", editors, Ehleringer, J.R., T.E. Cerling, M.D. Dearing, Springer Verlag, New York, 2005.