Keeling Curve

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations from 1958 to 2023

The Keeling Curve is a graph of the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere based on continuous measurements taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory on the island of Hawaii from 1958 to the present day. The curve is named for the scientist Charles David Keeling, who started the monitoring program and supervised it until his death in 2005.

Keeling's measurements showed the first significant evidence of rapidly increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere.[1] According to Naomi Oreskes, Professor of History of Science at Harvard University, the Keeling curve is one of the most important scientific works of the 20th century.[2] Many scientists credit the Keeling curve with first bringing the world's attention to the current increase of CO2 in the atmosphere.[3]

  1. ^ "The Early Keeling Curve | Scripps CO2 Program". scrippsco2.ucsd.edu. Retrieved 2018-11-24.
  2. ^ Naomi Oreskes (23 January 2017). Climate Disruption (video). Awesome Documentaries TV. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
  3. ^ Nisbet, Euan (2007). "Cinderella science" (PDF). Nature. 450 (7171): 789–790. doi:10.1038/450789a. PMID 18063983.