Atmospheric carbon dioxide record from Barrow

Graphics Digital Data

C.D. Keeling and T.P. Whorf

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, La Jolla, California 92093-0244, U.S.A.

Period of Record

1974-2004

Methods

Carbon dioxide was first measured at Barrow, Alaska, by Kelley and co-workers from the University of Washington during the 1960s through the use of a continuously operating analyzer. From January 1974 through February 1982, air samples were collected biweekly in triplicate 2-L evacuated glass flasks. Since March 1982, weekly air samples have been collected in 5-L evacuated glass flask pairs. Flasks are returned to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (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 the CO2-in-air calibration gases, which are currently used (Keeling et al. 2002).

Barrow, Alaska, U.S.A.
On the coast of the Arctic Ocean
71°19' N, 156°36' W, 11 m above MSL

Trends

The Barrow record is considered indicative of maritime air masses and shows the large seasonal amplitude typical of high northerly latitude sites. Since 1974, the annual-fitted CO2 concentration at Barrow has risen from 332.77 ppmv to 378.36 ppmv in 2004. This represents an average annual increase of 1.5 ppmv per year.

References

Keeling, C.D. 1984.
Atmospheric and oceanographic measurements needed for establishment of a data base for carbon dioxide from fossil fuels. In The Potential Effects of Carbon Dioxide-Induced Climatic Changes in Alaska. (Miscellaneous, etc.). The Proceedings of a Conference. Fairbanks, Alaska, April 7-8, 1982. School of Agriculture and Land Resources Management, University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

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.

CITE AS: Keeling, C.D. and T.P. Whorf. 2005. Atmospheric CO2 records from sites in the SIO air sampling network. In Trends: A Compendium of Data on Global Change. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A.

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