The Scripps CO2 measurements at Mauna Loa have been supported for many years by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), and have more recently been supplemented by Earth Networks, a technology company that is collaborating with Scripps to expand the global GHG monitoring network. Support for website development was provided in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF.
We are now approaching the annual low point in the Mauna Loa CO2 curve, which typically happens around the last week of September but varies slightly from year to year.
Readings of CO2 from Mauna Loa have been unavailable for two weeks.
According to technicians with the Scripps CO2 Group, the problem is a disk failure that handles the data buffering, which has broken the data stream and valve switching that impacts daily calibration. The air data are recoverable, because the computer onboard the actual instrument is still working and taking air data, but we will need to assess the stability of calibration once the instrument is working completely again. A replacement was shipped last week, so it should be up again shortly.
Note: Readers have asked why there has been no stabilization in the measured levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere when reported emissions of CO2 have fallen. Scripps CO2 Group Director Ralph Keeling gave this response: