Until We Meet Again

As long ago as 1896, Svanti Arrenius conducted a scientific analysis of the relationship between carbon dioxide (CO2) and atmospheric temperatures. Several decades later, GS Callender collected and compiled temperature data from around the world and found there had been an increase in global temperatures. He hypothesized that the rising temperatures were resulting from increasing levels of CO2. These early studies piqued the interest of Gilbert Plass in the mid-20th century who endeavored to determine how CO2 affects temperature. In his effort to determine the possible effects that higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere were having on the energy flux, Plass found that CO2 molecules are efficient absorbers of Earth’s outgoing heat energy. Higher levels of carbon dioxide cause greater absorption of outgoing heat energy, less heat escapes to space, and higher atmospheric temperatures result