The 1982-1983 El Niño: a 6 billion ton CO<sub>2</sub> release

Abstract

The atmospheric CO2 concentration at Amsterdam Island showed important variations of the increase rate during the 1982-1983 El Niño. After elimination of the weak local and regional interferences, the main feature of the CO2 record is a slower than normal increase rate at the beginning and at the end of this El Niño, i.e., from April to December 1982, and from July 1983 to April 1984. and higher than usual from December 1982 to July 1983. In the whole, the CO2 increase curve is shifted upwards by 1 ppm, which corresponds to a supplementary input into the atmosphere of about 6 billion tons of CO2.