Page 349 - Hawaii: Diving, Surfing, Pearl Harbor, Volcanoes and More

Dangers to Coral Reefs

ince the beginning of the Industrial higher than experienced on Earth for at
S Revolution, the release of carbon least the last 800,000 years and probably
dioxide (CO2) from human activities has over 20 million years, and is expected to
resulted in atmospheric CO2 concentra- continue to rise at an increasing rate, lead-
tions that have increased from approxi- ing to significant temperature increases in
mately 280 to 385 parts per million. The the atmosphere and oceans in the coming
atmospheric concentration of CO2 is now decades.