Atmospheric carbon dioxide measurements at Cape Matatula, American Samoa, 1976–1987

Abstract

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has operated a program to continuously monitor atmospheric CO 2 at Cape Matatula, American Samoa, since January 1976. This paper describes the basic operational program and reports the data through 1987. Data sets are derived from hourly means which have been selected to represent baseline conditions. All hourly mean CO 2 values (with flags indicating data selection status) are archived at NOAA's Geophysical Monitoring for Climatic Change (GMCC) laboratory in Boulder, Colorado; at the Carbon Dioxide Information and Analysis Center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and in the microfiche version of this paper. The record from the in situ analyzer is compared with that of flask samples obtained in various ways. The overall 12‐year record shows an average increase of 1.44 parts per million by volume per year. This increase amounts to 61% of the carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere by fossil fuel combustion during this period. The record is also characterized by the lack of a prominent seasonal cycle. The CO 2 concentrations for the first half of each year are always more variable than the second 6 months, when the wind flow is dominated by strong southeasterly trades. The interannual variability of the CO 2 growth rate correlates very well with that observed at other GMCC sites.