Question

A climatologist wants to investigate if human activity has contributed to global warming. He knows that higher levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere cause higher temperatures. He has graphed the history of global surface temperature as shown.
What should the climatologist do next?

add atmospheric carbon dioxide levels attributed to burning fossil fuels

add atmospheric carbon dioxide levels attributed to human respiration.

add atmospheric carbon dioxide levels attributed to forest fires

add atmospheric carbon dioxide levels attributed to volcanic eruption

Answers

GPT-4o mini
To investigate if human activity has contributed to global warming, the climatologist should **add atmospheric carbon dioxide levels attributed to burning fossil fuels**. This is the most relevant factor because the burning of fossil fuels (such as coal, oil, and natural gas) is primarily responsible for the increase in carbon dioxide levels due to human activities, which is directly linked to global warming.

The other options—carbon dioxide levels from human respiration, forest fires, and volcanic eruptions—do contribute to atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, but they are not as significant in terms of human impact on climate change compared to fossil fuel combustion.

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