Longer data trends further illustrate man's role
Figure 27. B, Past, current, and projected global temperature from about 20,000 years before the present to 2100 C.E. Modified from data published by the World Health Organization, the World Meteorological Organization, and the United Nations Environment Programme in 2003 (McMichael and others, 2003) and data published by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007a).
Particularly in the relationship between the Industrial Revolution and Greenhouse gases.
These increases in greenhouse gas concentrations and their marked rate of change are largely attributable to human activities since the Industrial Revolution (1800). The increases and current atmospheric levels are the result of the competition between sources (the emissions of these gases from human activities and natural systems) and sinks (their removal from the atmosphere by conversion to different chemical compounds--for example, CO2 is removed by photosynthesis and conversion to carbonates). Brief summaries of these factors for several important greenhouse gases are given in Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks with graphics showing the human and natural contributions to their emissions (and sinks).
