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Article: A moss's tale of gassy climate burps. (carbon dioxide in Chile moss changed rapidly in a few decades) (Brief Article)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- December 19, 1992
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1992 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A study of ancient moss in Chile suggests that the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide gas jumped quite dramatically 12,700 years ago - by an amount and at a speed that has astonished climate experts. The new data show that in just a few decades, levels of this greenhouse gas climbed by about 80 parts per million, an increase roughly equaling the human-caused accumulation of carbon dioxide during the last two centuries.
James White of the University of Colorado at Boulder and his colleagues discovered the evidence of a planetary burp in carbon dioxide by analyzing the ratio of two carbon isotopes in moss preserved within peat deposits. White sees ...