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Level of carbon dioxide gas (CO2) in the atmosphere (later measured in antient ice) is about 290 ppm.
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Fourier calculated that the Earth would be much colder if it did not have an atmosphere.
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Mean global temperature is approx.13.6°C.
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Tyndall discovers that some gases block infrared radiation. He suggests that changes in the concentration of gases could bring a change in climate.
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Fertilizers( and other chemicals), electricity, and public health advance growth.
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Arrhenius publishes first calculation of global warming from human productions of CO2.
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governments acquire how to organize and control industrial societies.
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The opening of (Texas and Persian Gulf) oil fields initiates era of inexpensive energy.
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Military grand approach is largely compelled by a struggle to regulate oil fields.
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Plass determines that adding CO2 to the atmosphere will have a substantial effect on the radiation balance.
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Telescope studies show a greenhouse effect increases temperature of Venus’ atmosphere far beyond the boiling point of water
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Mitchell reports decline of global temperatures since the early 1940s.
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Emiliani's examination of deep-sea cores and Broecker's analysis of ancient corals suggest that the climate system is sensitive to small changes.
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Manabe and Wetherald make a definite calculation that expanding CO2 would increase world temperatures a couple of degrees
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Studies propose a possibility of collapse of Antarctic ice sheets; this would raise sea levels cataclysmically.
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Warnings about environmental effects of airplanes leads to research of trace gases in the stratosphere and detection of threat to ozone layer.
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Over the last century, the surface temperature of the Earth has increased by approx. 1.0o F. The eleven warmest years this century have all occurred since 1980.
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Some scientists foresee greenhouse warming "signal" should be evident by about the year 2000.
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Greenland ice cores propose that abundant climate changes (at least on a regional scale) can arise in the space of a sole decade.
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Ramanathan identifies colossal "brown cloud" of aerosols from South Asia.
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IPCC report states that global warming, unprecedented since the end of last ice age, is "very likely," with potential severe surprises.
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Plentiful observations increase concern that collapse of ice sheets can raise sea levels sooner than most had assumed.
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Scientists conclude post-1980 global warming was unmatched for centuries or more. The rise could not be credited to changes in solar energy.
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Debated "attribution" studies find recent catastrophic heat waves, droughts, excesses of precipitation, and floods were made worse by global warming.
