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The release of carbon, mostly carbon dioxide

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from human activities like driving cars, flying planes, and industrial burning

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of fossil fuels is responsible for the majority of climate change.

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Carbon exists in stores underground,

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as oil, gas and coal.

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When we burn it, we release
it into our atmosphere, where it traps

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excess heat coming from

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the Sun, raising the temperature.

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We’ve known for more than a century

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that carbon dioxide added to our atmosphere traps

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additional heat and is a major contributor

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to the greenhouse effect.

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So we can also track the

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concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere,

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the primary cause of the current
climate change.

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Both from space -- using NASA satellites like

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the Orbiting Carbon Observatories 2 and 3 -- and from the ground.

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If you’ve heard of the Keeling Curve, you’re familiar with one of these records.

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Researchers have been taking daily

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measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide from Mauna Loa, Hawaii,

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since the 1950s.

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From space and the ground,

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the signal is clear:

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There’s a lot more carbon in the atmosphere than there used to be.