Officials are contemplating flying a generator to the Mauna Loa observatory to get its power back so it can take measurements again.
The eruption of Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano has temporarily knocked off power to the world's premier station that measures heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but officials Wednesday say it won't be a problem.
The Hawaiian station goes back to 1958 and is the main site for the famous Keeling Curve that shows rising carbon dioxide levels from burning of coal, oil and natural gas that tracks with rising temperatures. Levels of carbon dioxide at Mauna Loa have increased 33% since 1958. "This is sort of our flagship station," said Colm Sweeney, the monitoring lab's associate director."The scientific value of Mauna Loa is really in what it stands for. It also is one of the cleanest signals that we have."
There are more than 300 stations worldwide, including more than 70 operated by NOAA, so the global measurement of greenhouse gases will continue, Sweeney said.
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