Climate Change Is Clear Atop Mauna Loa

[RestoreGore]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9885767

Climate Connections
Climate Change Is Clear Atop Mauna Loa
by Madeleine Brand

Audio for this story will be available at approx. 4:00 p.m. ET

Charles David Keeling and the Mauna Loa Observatory
Courtesy of the Keeling Family

Oscillations in the Keeling Curve represent seasonal fluctuations in carbon dioxide levels.

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Day to Day, May 1, 2007 · In the documentary An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore shows a graph of rising carbon-dioxide levels during the past several decades. The image is a striking illustration of how one greenhouse gas has poured into the world's atmosphere.

Watching the film, you might get the impression that the research behind that graph came from Roger Revelle, an eminent scientist who studied global warming. In fact, the work sprang from a brash young colleague named Charles David Keeling, and Revelle initially opposed his method.

Bucking the established scientific wisdom, Keeling wanted to set up his carbon-dioxide monitoring station in just one place, where he could get the cleanest air possible: on top of Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano. Despite a lack of enthusiasm from Revelle, Keeling began sampling the air at Mauna Loa in 1958. A few years after the data started coming in, Revelle conceded that his young protege was right — and that the data proved fossil fuels were causing global warming.

The Keeling Curve, as it came to be known, is the cornerstone of global-warming science today. Keeling died in 2005 — but other scientists, including his son Ralph, are continuing his research. The Keeling Curve is dense, full of dips and spikes. But its visual impact — a steady upward line showing the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide — is simple and stark.

"You can look at as a beautiful scientific record," says Ralph Keeling, "or you can look at it as an alarm bell." To many observers, it is both.

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[Cha]

1. Thanks for this, RG!

I have a special interest because I'm going back to Hawaii(Kauai) in three years and I like reading about things that are happening there.

Good for Charles David Keeling and his work that is carried on by his son, Ralph!~

[RestoreGore]

2. I have a special place in my heart for Kauai

I was there about 15 years ago and 9 months after my return my son was born ;-). I canoed down the Hanalei River through the wettest spot on Earth which I absolutely loved, and got to spend an entire week in the absolutely mystical beauty of place I just did not want to leave. I hope to get back there some day as well. So, you're welcome, and yes, we are thankful for scientists like Charles David Keeling and those who carry on for them.

[Cha]

3. Kauai is an amazing Island..

I lived there for 6 years..'92-'98 and my son who still lives there went over in '85 to be where the Surf is.

I lived on Hanapepe side..I like it over there where it's HOT and there's a neighborhood beach(Salt Pond) that has a man made bay from World War II that's safe from riptides and sharks(so far!). B-)