American Chemical Society honors measurement set by NOAA ObservatoryApril 25, 2015
The American Chemical Society (click here) will designate the Keeling Curve – a long-term record of rising carbon dioxide in the planet’s atmosphere -- as a National Historic Chemical Landmark in a ceremony April 30 at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii.
In March 1958, on a remote mountain slope at a newly established U.S. Weather Bureau observatory, the late geochemist Charles David Keeling of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, began taking measurements of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In the years that followed, the systematic measurements Keeling started have become the most widely recognized record of mankind’s impact on the Earth, linking rising levels of carbon dioxide from man’s burning of fossil fuels to the warming of the planet. He passed away in 2005.
“The Keeling Curve is an icon of modern climate science,” said Thomas J. Barton, Ph.D., immediate past president of the American Chemical Society. “Dave Keeling’s meticulous research provided scientifically credible evidence that has proved critical to understanding and addressing human impacts on our environment. Keeling recognized in 1960 that fossil fuels are driving global atmospheric change, which presents serious challenges for Earth and its people. The global impacts of climate change are what make Keeling’s work so important, and so celebrated, today.”...
