Antarctic Ice Cores & Modern Record · 800,000 years

The coupled rise of CO₂ and temperature

Atmospheric carbon dioxide and Antarctic temperature change have risen and fallen together through eight glacial cycles. Then, since the Industrial Revolution, CO₂ broke the pattern — rising further and faster than anything in this 800-millennium record.

CO₂ (ppmv) — left axis
Temperature change (°C) — right axis
Industrial Revolution (~1750)
Year position
—
CO₂ concentration
— ppmv
Temp. change
— °C
Phase
Ready

About the axes. The x-axis is negative years before present (−YBP): larger negative numbers are deeper in the past, zero is roughly the present. CO₂ is read on the left axis; temperature change on the right. The two series are plotted so equal vertical positions line up the glacial–interglacial swings, making their coupling visible. Data: Antarctic ice-core CO₂ composite and temperature reconstruction, extended with the modern instrumental CO₂ record. Single self-contained file — upload directly to GitHub Pages or embed via raw HTML.