Skeptical Science - CO2 lags temperature - what does it mean?

This article deals with the graphs of CO2 lagging behind temperature by 800 - 1000 years according to studies of ice cores. If you didn't know, this is one of the big arguments against global warming because if CO2 changes based on Temperature, it can't possibly be affecting it, right?

Does temperature rise cause CO2 rise or the other way around? A common misconception is that you can only have one or the other. In actuality, the answer is both.

Milankovitch cycles - how increased temperature causes CO2 rise

Looking over past climate change, scientists have observed a cycle of ice ages separated by brief warm periods called interglacials. This pattern is due to Milankovitch cycles - gradual, regular changes in the earth's orbit and axis. While there are several different cycles, the dominant climate signal is the 100,000 year eccentricity cycle as the Earth's orbit changes from a more circular to a more elliptical orbit (Petit 1999, Shackleton 2000).

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