The year 2013 was another dismal one for climatologists fighting climate change. The IPCC’s fifth assessment reaffirmed scientists were 95% certain that humans are the “dominant cause” of global warming. The Mauna Loa Observatory on Hawaii noted the daily mean concentration of CO2 had surpassed 400 parts per million for the first time since measurements began in 1958, but the carbon band played on.
A Time to Acknowledge the Mauna Loa Observatory Again
We might have had no idea what we were doing to our atmosphere, were it not for David Keeling. We imagine him scaling the heights of the Mauna Loa Mountain sixty years ago, with primitive monitoring equipment on his back.
He was determined to prove his discovery that carbon levels were rising, and this was a warning the world could not ignore. In the second year of his research at Mauna Loa Observatory, David Keeling wrote, “We are witnessing for the first time nature’s withdrawing CO2 from the air for plant growth during the summer, and returning it each succeeding winter.”
Capturing the Essence of the Hemisphere Drawing Breath
The Smithsonian Institute later described this as, “Capturing a picture of the northern hemisphere drawing and releasing breath. It was exhaling carbon dioxide as forests turned bare for the winter, and inhaling as the leaves returned each summer.”
However, these romanticized findings at The Mauna Loa Observatory contained the seeds of something more sinister. Since the residual carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was increasing every year. Keeling ascribed this rapid increase to the burning of fossil fuels. Fifty-seven years later, the IPCC’s fifth assessment reconfirmed this reality.
A further five years later, squabbles continue whether or not this is true. We are making progress towards the greener future for which David Keeling pleaded. However, we fear future generations will say we could have moved much faster.
Related
Climate Change Part 12: The Keeling Curve 1961
Climate Change Part 29: The Bell Tolls Again at Mauna Loa 2008
Preview Image: Climbing Mauna Loa: A Few More Steps to Go
