A new study suggests that if advanced technology had been available, scientists could have detected human-caused climate change as early as 1885. Researchers Benjamin Santer and colleagues argue that by then, a clear signal of anthropogenic impact could be distinguished from natural climate variability. This insight rests on early discoveries of greenhouse gases' effects from the 1850s and the understanding that CO2 emissions from the Industrial Revolution were beginning to elevate atmospheric CO2 levels, marking the beginning of a warming trend that scientists only recognized much later.
As early as 1885, researchers could have confidently disentangled a human-caused signal of climate change from natural variations, according to Benjamin Santer.
The unmistakable signs of human-caused climate change were already detectable before the end of the nineteenth century, fueled by rising carbon dioxide emissions from industrial activities.
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