4 ms·
why is it a sawtooth shape? i.e. why is carbon PPM on a yearly cycle? (I'm not referring to the overall trend)
by knodi123 5y ago
why is it a sawtooth shape? i.e. why is carbon PPM on a yearly cycle? (I'm not referring to the overall trend)
- mturmon 5y agoAnnual periodicity of CO2 is due to seasonal drawdown of C by greening-up plants in the Northern Hemisphere.
- tamaharbor 5y agoWhat do the plants in the Southern Hemisphere do?
- singularity2001 5y agothere is much less land mass in the southern hemisphere
- mturmon 5y agoYes, and the plants in the tropics (North and South) don't show strong seasonality. Here's a plot of a few CO2 swings versus latitude (https://scrippsco2.ucsd.edu/graphics_gallery/other_stations/global_stations_co2_concentration_trends.html https://scrippsco2.ucsd.edu/graphics_gallery/other_stations/...) -- the northern one, at Point Barrow, Alaska, hovers around the same value as Mauna Loa, but swings harder due to stronger influence from Northern hemisphere vegetation.