"Uncertain Future for Iconic 'Keeling Curve' CO2 Measurements"
by Jeff Tollefson and Nature Magazine
Scientific American
The Keeling Curve is one of the most recognizable and important graphs of our modern age. It shows the increase in atmospheric CO2 and is a true icon of climate change activism. It is produced by the Scripps institute for Oceanography. The famous graph is taken from samples collected on Manua Loa in Hawaii. Currently, the CO2 measurements are begin measured at 13 sites, all over the world. This project now lead by Dr. Ralph Keeling (whose father, Dr. Charles Keeling started the project 55 years ago), is facing some serious issues with funding. Budget cuts have led to massive cutbacks and is now placing the project in serious danger of shut down. Until 2010, the research institution enjoyed a budget of $700,000, which has now been slashed to $350,000, impacted severely by the National Science Foundation's withdrawal of funding. Also, the The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is also having trouble maintaining their funding for this institute, whose own research overlaps with theirs. The NOAA's directer of the Global Monitoring Division in Boulder expressed his dissatisfaction with this situation by claiming that, "All [he] can do now is provide moral support to keep it going year by year until we come up with a plan." The financial struggles of the Scrippts project has driven the team to reach out through Twitter to get citizen donations to fund their research.
Personally, I am very unhappy with the level of funding given to the Keeling Curve project. This research project is of such cultural and historical value that it must be maintained. It was essential to the growth of the climate protection movement, shaping out understanding of an important environmental phenomena. If the CO2 levels in our atmosphere are not studied rigorously, our impact on the environment may not be as apparent. The work being done on this Scrippts projects is essential for dictating future environmental policies. Unfortunately, as is true with many other important scientific institutions, like NASA and the NIH. Science must not continue to be neglected. It is an area that leads to the progression of greater understanding and more advanced technology that help improve our world. The work Dr. Keeling does to monitor atmospheric CO2 is vital to furthering out understanding of our effect on the environment.
by Jeff Tollefson and Nature Magazine
Scientific American
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| The world-famous Keeling Curve |
Personally, I am very unhappy with the level of funding given to the Keeling Curve project. This research project is of such cultural and historical value that it must be maintained. It was essential to the growth of the climate protection movement, shaping out understanding of an important environmental phenomena. If the CO2 levels in our atmosphere are not studied rigorously, our impact on the environment may not be as apparent. The work being done on this Scrippts projects is essential for dictating future environmental policies. Unfortunately, as is true with many other important scientific institutions, like NASA and the NIH. Science must not continue to be neglected. It is an area that leads to the progression of greater understanding and more advanced technology that help improve our world. The work Dr. Keeling does to monitor atmospheric CO2 is vital to furthering out understanding of our effect on the environment.
I was thinking about this article the other day and wonder how they are doing via Twitter, and how much funding they have been approved for in 2014. This is iconic as you say and it is a shame for any scientific foundation or institution, which has so much history like the Keeling Curve project, NASA, NSF, and the NIH to be lacking money for their scientific research. Science and scientific understanding of our world is critical to our future and hopefully this will not be one project htat is shut down.
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