A Study of the Global Carbon Cycle Based on Measurements of the Abundance and Isotopic Composition of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

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The Keeling curve is a graph showing the increase in the mixing ratio of carbon dioxide in the global free troposphere as measured continuously since 1958 at the Mauna Loa Observatory by the late C. D. Keeling and his coworkers from Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). This graph registers a number of scientifically fundamental properties of the planetary carbon metabolism including the secular rise in atmospheric CO2 attributed to anthropogenic fossil fuels combustion, the annual seasonal change in the uptake of CO2 by vegetation, and by inference the differential uptake of fossil fuel carbon by the ocean and terrestrial sinks. By now the Keeling curve is iconic for the discussion of global climate change issues and global warming.This award is for an additional three years of funding of the SIO measurement and flask sampling network and the exacting high precision measurements pioneered by C. D. Keeling. A number of uncompleted tasks associated with validation of the C. D. Keeling time series, including confirmation of historic manometric measurementscales and the continued dissemination of SIO archival data sets will also be completed.