Scientists still trying solve the carbon crisis

Every year mankind's emissions are significantly increasing and being trapped in the atmosphere with plants and oceans unable to absorb all the extra gas.

Mankind's CO2 emissions total about 30 billion tonnes per year.

Of this, about half stay in the atmosphere, while about 7.5 billion tonnes is taken up by the oceans and roughly the same amount by land plants, exactly how much is taken up by specific regions, such as the Amazon rainforest, remain unclear.

For the past 40 years, many CO2 measurements have involved collecting air samples from locations around the globe, either on land, ships or from aircraft.

The air in trapped in small flasks and then measured by an infrared absorption analyzer to determine the concentration of CO2.

Scientists are continuing to struggle to build an accurate picture of how the gas is continuously shifted around by the atmosphere and how much CO2 is soaked up by oceans and plants or emitted by rotting and burning vegetation and other natural processes.

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Photo: NIOSH-Nat Inst for occupational Safety & Health/flickr