Tracking the Planet’s Pulse
Analyzing CO₂, Global Temperature Anomalies, and Sea Level Rise
Introduction & Hypothesis
Climate change is among the most pressing issues of our time. Our hypothesis: if atmospheric CO₂ continues to rise, global temperature anomalies and sea level will also show sustained upward trends.
Data Sources & Methods
- CO₂: Mauna Loa Observatory (1958–Present)
- Temperature: NASA GISTEMP v4 (1880–Present)
- Sea Level: NOAA JPL RECON (1900–2018)
Methods include merging monthly time-series, computing 10‑year rolling averages, correlation matrices, and regression modeling using Python (Pandas, Matplotlib, Seaborn).
Key Results
- CO₂ rising at +1.67 ppm / year
- Temperature anomalies rising at +0.0123 °C / year
- Sea level rising at +0.70 mm / year
- Strong lagged correlation (1‑month) between CO₂ and temperature (r ≈ 0.803)
Predictive Modeling
Regression model highlights CO₂ as the dominant predictor. Training R² = 0.48, but negative test R² suggests potential overfitting. Future work will refine model complexity and consider additional climate features.
Ethics & Limitations
We aim for responsible communication—avoiding alarmism, acknowledging dataset uncertainty, and emphasizing reproducibility. Transparency and interpretability remain key goals in future iterations.