Climate Change 2001:
Synthesis Report
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Figure 2-1: Records of past changes in atmospheric composition over the last millennium demonstrate the rapid rise in greenhouse gases and sulfate aerosols that is attributable primarily to industrial growth since 1750. The top three panels show increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) over the past 1,000 years. Early sporadic data taken from air trapped in ice (symbols) matches up with continuous atmospheric observations from recent decades (solid lines). These gases are well mixed in the atmosphere, and their concentrations reflect emissions from sources throughout the globe. The estimated positive radiative forcing from these gases is indicated on the righthand scale. The lowest panel shows the concentration of sulfate in ice cores from Greenland (shown by lines for three different cores) from which the episodic effects of volcanic eruptions have been removed. Sulfate aerosols form from sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, deposit readily at the surface, and are not well mixed in the atmosphere. Specifically, the increase in sulfate deposited at Greenland is attributed to SO2 emissions from the U.S. and Europe (shown as symbols), and both show a decline in recent decades. Sulfate aerosols

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