Concentrating on CO2: the Scandinavian and Arctic measurements

This article concerns atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) measurements made in Scandinavia and in the Arctic region before measurements started at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, in 1958. The CO2 hypothesis of climate change was one reason to measure atmospheric CO2 in the mid-1950s. The earlier history of CO2 measurements--for instance, the work of the chemist Kurt Buch--was also influential in this period. It is unclear when the CO2 hypothesis of climate change began to provide sufficient motivation for measurements, and the measurements may relate in a nonlinear way to the growth in popularity of the hypothesis. Discussions between meteorologist Carl-Gustaf Rossby at Stockholm Högskola and scientists in America reveal how different kinds of CO2 studies varied with regard to precision.