How can scientists read the diary of the earth written in the snow

Charles David Keeling April 20, — June 20, [ 1 ] [ 2 ] was an American scientist whose recording of carbon dioxide at the Mauna Loa Observatory [ 3 ] confirmed Svante Arrhenius 's proposition of the possibility of anthropogenic contribution to the greenhouse effect and global warming , by documenting the steadily rising carbon dioxide levels.

The Keeling Curve measures the progressive buildup of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, in the atmosphere.

Charles david keeling son

His father, an investment banker, excited interests of astronomy in a 5-year-old Charles, while his mother instilled a lifelong love of music. He graduated with a degree in chemistry from the University of Illinois in Most of Dole's graduates were going straight into the oil industry; Keeling "had trouble seeing the future this way" and had become interested in geology , for which he had acquired most of the undergraduate coursework during his PhD.

Keeling had applied for postdoctoral positions as a chemist almost exclusively to geology departments "west of the continental divide. He was a postdoctoral fellow in geochemistry there until he joined the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in , and was appointed professor of oceanography there in At Caltech he developed the first instrument able to measure carbon dioxide in atmospheric samples with consistently reliable accuracy.

Keeling worked at the Scripps Institution for 43 years during which time he published many influential papers. Keeling started collecting carbon dioxide samples at the base in A reduction in carbon dioxide followed during spring and early summer each year as plant growth increased in the land-rich northern hemisphere. In , Keeling produced data showing that carbon dioxide levels were rising steadily in what later became known as the " Keeling Curve ".

In the early s, the National Science Foundation stopped supporting his research, calling the outcome "routine". Despite this lack of interest, the Foundation used Keeling's research in its warning in of rapidly increasing amounts of heat-trapping gases. A report from President Johnson's Science Advisory Committee similarly warned of the dangers of extra heat-trapping gases, which cause the temperature of the Earth to rise.