Keeling, Charles D.
Charles D. Keeling (1928-2005), an American pioneer in the monitoring of carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. Widely recognized as the "Keeling curve", the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration measurements, taken since 1958 at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, constitute the longest, continuous record of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration recordings available in the world. These measurements are recognized as a reliable indicator of the regional trend in the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the middle layers of the troposphere.
The Mauna Loa record shows a continuous increase in the annual concentration of carbon dioxide, an important greenhouse gas, and is thus one indication of human contribution to global climate change. Each year, the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration varies between a high value in winter (because of biospheric respiration) and a low value in summer (because of drawdown by photosynthesis); as a result, a wave-like pattern is superimposed on the year-to-year increasing trend.
Further Reading
- NASA Earth Observatory Newsroom. Information on the Keeling Curve.
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Charles D. Keeling: Climate Science Pioneer.
