CO2 Concentrations and Temperature Have Tracked Closely Over the Last 300,000 Years
CO2 Concentrations and Temperature Have Tracked Closely Over the Last 300,000 Years: As ice core records from Vostok, Antarctica show, the temperature near the South Pole has varied by more than 20º F during the past 350,000 years in a regular pattern that constitutes the ice age/interglacial cycles. Changes in carbon dioxide concentrations (blue) track closely with changes in temperature (red) during these cycles, but carbon dioxide levels are now higher than at any time during the past 650,000 years.
Credit: Image modified and courtesy of the Marian Koshland Science Museum of the National Academy of Sciences. http://www.koshland-science-museum.org/