An Australian research institute on Monday launched a website that allows the public to monitor greenhouse gas emissions in the southern hemisphere.

The government-backed Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) developed the site so people can see for themselves how climate-warming gases have increased as a result of human activity.

"The measurements testify to a steady rise in carbon dioxide concentrations in the Earth's atmosphere, mainly caused by the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation," said CSIRO scientist Paul Fraser.

The website, www.csiro.au/greenhouse-gases, has interactive graphs showing the levels of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane.

Chemicals that deplete the ozone layer are also measured, such as chlorofluorocarbons and halons, with the site updated monthly as new samples are tested.

The data is taken from air samples collected by CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology at Cape Grim in Tasmania.

Cape Grim is seen as an important site, as the air sampled arrives there after long trajectories over the Southern Ocean with the air representative of a large area of the southern hemisphere unaffected by pollution sources.

Northern hemisphere air is monitored by Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii.

"The graphs we've made available online will enable people to examine the evidence about the major driver of recent climate change," said Fraser.

"This is fundamental information in determining the global actions needed to avoid greenhouse gases rising to dangerous levels."

earlier related report
Push for Australians to have say on carbon tax
Canberra (AFP) June 20, 2011 - Australians may be asked to vote on whether or not they support a carbon tax to combat climate change after opposition leader Tony Abbott Monday called for a plebiscite on the issue.

Abbott, who narrowly missed ousting the ruling Labor Party in polls last August that ended in a hung parliament, says Prime Minister Julia Gillard went into the election promising no carbon tax but later reversed her decision.

"I am determined to try to ensure that the Australian people get to vote on Julia Gillard's carbon tax," Abbott told reporters in Canberra.

"And my plebiscite proposal is to bring about the vote on the carbon tax that the prime minister denied to people before the election."

Abbott, who plans to introduce a private members' bill on a plebiscite, said it should take place within 90 days of passing parliament.

For the bill to be passed it must receive the backing of the key independents whose support allowed Gillard to take power. The final outcome of the plebiscite would be non-binding on the government.

But Abbott said it was "just inconceivable, absolutely inconceivable" that the government would ignore a vote of the Australian people.

The government, which is flailing at record lows in opinion polls, wants to introduce a price on carbon by July 2012, with this gradually giving way to a carbon trading mechanism within three to five years.

But the opposition says it will be a "great big tax" on Australians already facing rising costs of living, and endanger jobs and industry.

Gillard Monday dismissed Abbott's plebiscite push as a stunt.

"This is a complete stunt from Tony Abbott. Another day, another stunt, we're used to it," she said. "We've got to get on with the job of tackling climate change."

Unlike a referendum, which relates to a constitutional issue, a plebiscite is not binding on the government. In the past they have been held on the question of military service and daylight saving.

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