Climate ‘Time Machine’ Tests Future CO2 Levels

Climate ‘Time Machine’ Tests Future CO2 Levels

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A climate time machine has been erected in Australia. The contraption, comprised of several nine-story-tall frames with pipes that pump carbon dioxide into the air surrounding a forest, is part of an experiment to measure the effect of carbon dioxide on real woodlands — and get a glimpse of the future.

The four-acre project, called Eucalyptus Free Air Carbon Enrichment (EucFACE), is an experiment run by the University of Western Sydney. Scientists have embarked on it because although carbon dioxide levels planetwide have risen in the past century, it’s unclear how much of the CO2 plants can absorb and what will happen as those concentrations rise.