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Scientists at the Marina Loa observatory in Hawaii have measured the concentration of atmospheric CO2 to be 387 parts per million, higher than any time in the past 650,000 years. The concentration has risen by 1.5 ppm per year from 1970 to 2000, and 2.1 ppm per year since 2000. Infrared detectors are used to analyze CO2 and other gases by measuring how they each absorb infrared radiation differently. More precise instruments like pulsing laser detectors and LIDAR operate at a wavelength of 2 micrometers, where CO2 absorbs but water does not.

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Pramit Ghosh
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47 views1 page

Assignment

Scientists at the Marina Loa observatory in Hawaii have measured the concentration of atmospheric CO2 to be 387 parts per million, higher than any time in the past 650,000 years. The concentration has risen by 1.5 ppm per year from 1970 to 2000, and 2.1 ppm per year since 2000. Infrared detectors are used to analyze CO2 and other gases by measuring how they each absorb infrared radiation differently. More precise instruments like pulsing laser detectors and LIDAR operate at a wavelength of 2 micrometers, where CO2 absorbs but water does not.

Uploaded by

Pramit Ghosh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Name : Pramit Ghosh

Student ID : 1510139

“I pledge that I will not commit any academic dishonesty including


plagiarism, copying, cheating on examinations, collaborating inappropriately,
or any other forms of violation of the ethical standards expected by BUET
from its student body.”

It is claimed that the concentration of atmospheric CO2is higher than at any time in
the past 650,000 years –how do we know that? How is the concentration of CO2in
the atmosphere measured?

Concentration of atmospheric CO2 is now 387 ppm which is higher than at any time in the past
650,000 years according to the scientists at the Marina Loa observatory in Hawaii. The
concentration of CO2 has risen by 1.5 ppm each year from 1970 to 2000. But from 2000, the
concentration rate has jumped to 2.1 ppm.

IR Detectors: CO2 and other compound gases absorb Infrared radiation in a different way. As a
result, IR detector is used for CO2 analyzing. Since the measured gas isn’t in contact with the
sensor, they are stable. They can also withstand dirt, dust and humidity.
Instruments for measuring CO2 concentration must be very precise at least to 1ppm.

For more precise measurement, PLS (Pulsing Laser Detector), LIDAR (Laser Induced
Differential Absorption Radar) are used. They are operated at wavelength of 2 um. This
wavelength is suitable for CO2 being absorbing. But water is not. Wavelength has to be selected
such that CO2 and H2O has different absorbing condition.

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