Princeton University

The Princeton Atmospheric CO₂ Monitoring Project makes continuous measurements of the concentration of CO₂ on the Princeton campus.  The Project is sponsored by the Grand Challenges program of the Princeton Environmental Institute (PEI).  We track changes in the CO₂ concentration of local air that illustrate fundamental processes of the carbon cycle and reflect all the processes influencing the concentration of CO₂ in the global atmosphere.  The measurements provide records that are used in University classes to illustrate the basic phenomena affecting the level of CO₂ in air and the influence of human activity on the atmospheric CO₂ burden.

The Princeton Atmospheric CO2 Monitoring Project uses a Picarro Cavity Ringdown Spectrometer (http://www.picarro.com/isotope_analyzers/co2_ambient) to make continuous measurements of the CO₂ concentration as well as the carbon isotope composition.  The instrument is used for research projects involving studies of CO₂ in seawater and studies of the rate of respiration by plants.  It is also used in course laboratories.  When it is not being used for these purposes, it measures the CO₂ concentration of air from an intake on the roof of Guyot Hall; these data can be plotted below and downloaded from this site.

• How and why does the CO₂ concentration of air vary?
• How do we measure CO₂?
• What does the isotopic composition of carbon tell us about CO₂?
• How can we learn about the atmospheric concentration of CO₂ before scientists began direct measurements? 
• What happens to fossil fuel CO₂ added to air?
• Why does CO₂ affect climate?
• What research projects is the Princeton CO₂ instrument used for?

• Additional Links

■ Access Princeton CO2 data in CVS format

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Princeton Atmospheric CO₂ Monitoring Project