The gathering centers on"Carbon Dioxide Symposium to Highlight Science, Impacts, Economics of Greenhouse Gas Buildup," which coincides with 50 years of continuous carbon dioxide measurements made on Mauna Loa.

NOAA and other sponsors have organized an international carbon dioxide symposium to bring together key segments of society involved in addressing carbon dioxide emissions in the future. Organizers call the observatory's work "the bedrock of worldwide research into human-caused climate change."

Not far from NOAA's Mauna Loa Observatory, where the first continuous carbon dioxide data were collected, science, business, and policy leaders will address such topics as the impacts of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide on land and ocean ecosystems, energy alternatives to fossil fuels, economic impacts of climate change, and regional efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions.

The seminar: "CO2 -50 Years: Recording the Past, Informing the Future, A Symposium on the Global Carbon Dioxide Record."

Participants will include leaders in business and science, government agency representatives, legislators, and congressional staff.

For more information on the Web: www.co2conference.org