The Ticking Carbon Clock

Originally posted on wnyc.org

Last month Bloomberg News provided a different look at that number with the Bloomberg Carbon Clock. Part data visualization, part public art project, it's a climate science cousin to the National Debt Clock: a ticking display that estimates the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in real time (there's some precedent for the idea: in 2009, Deutsche Bank put up a billboard near Madison Square Garden with a display counting tons of greenhouse gas).

To estimate carbon dioxide levels continuously, the clock combines weekly data from the Mauna Loa Observatory with historical trends (you can read the full methodology here). Because the model incorporates seasonal variation, it means the clock will actually stop and switch direction for a few months in the spring, when Northern Hemisphere vegetation removes more carbon from the air.

Read the full article here.