Scripps CO2 Program flask
notes: label: Description
content: In 2001, forty-three years after he started accumulating a dataset that bears his name, Charles David Keeling [1928-2005] was awarded the National Medal of Science "For his pioneering and fundamental research on atmospheric and oceanic carbon dioxide, the basis for understanding global carbon cycle and global warming." The Keeling curve is a graph of atmospheric CO2 which has been regularly sampled in Mauna Loa, Hawaii since 1958. These data have enabled the quantification of annual changes in CO2 concentrations which are linked with plant lifecycles as well as a steadily rising background due to anthropogenic sources. The Keeling curve's overall rise in CO2 concentrations, a critical greenhouse gas, made global warming manifest for many, as the graph has been widely disseminated—from scientific publications to K-12 lesson plans.
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content: Keeling began his career with a chemistry degree, specializing in polymers. After graduating with a PhD from Northwestern University in 1953, he looked for a position that would enable him to be outdoors more. He accepted a postdoc in the Department of Geochemistry at Caltech, which is where his interest in measuring CO2 began and matured as he engaged with the difficulty of measuring its concentration and noted its variability. Keeling wanted more accurate atmospheric CO2 measurements and found funding and support from the US Weather Bureau in Washington D.C., where he briefly worked before taking a position at the Scripps Institution for Oceanography in La Jolla, California in 1956.
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content: Keeling's longstanding CO2 program got its start during the International Geophysical Year [1 July 1957 – 31 December 1958]. He created a system that utilized an infrared analyzer to measure CO2 concentrations in air samples. Four of these systems were installed at sampling stations, one of which was a new observatory on Mauna Loa, Hawaii. In the first few years of sampling in the middle of the North Pacific, Keeling was able to see the seasonal variability of CO2 linked with plant growth in the northern hemisphere. Keeling also discovered that averages in his data from the second year were higher than the first. This increasing background was also seen in subsequent years, underpinning the long-term importance of this dataset's continuance.
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content: Critical to the accuracy of the IR analyzer system was the calibration gasses using a manometer of Keeling's design. Glass flasks like this one were used to return atmospheric samples from Mauna Loa and other sites around the world back to the laboratory in La Jolla for manometric analysis, which enabled a measurement accuracy of 0.1ppm for CO2 levels. Flasks were evacuated in the lab and passively filled with an air sample in the field when the stopcock was opened. Resealed, the flask was returned to the lab for analysis and the process repeated. Starting in the 1970s, air samples returned in these flasks were also subject to isotopic analysis, wherein the ratios of C12, C13, C14 of the sampled CO2 were quantified. Together, the overall rise in CO2 concentration and the isotopic analyses, show the effect of burning fossil fuels.
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content: Ralph Keeling succeeded his father as the head of the Scripps CO2 program. Flasks like these are still being sent to sampling stations around the world. This particular flask, I-457, was first used to sample air in Mauna Loa on 11/6/1981 and last used on 6/7/2022.
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content: References:
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content: Keeling, C. D., “Rewards and Penalties of Monitoring the Earth”, Annu. Rev. Energy Environ. 1998. 23:25–82. https://scrippsco2.ucsd.edu/assets/publications/keeling_autobiography.pdf (accessed 2023-04-21)
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content: Harris, D. C., “Charles David Keeling and the Story of Atmospheric CO2 Measurements”, Anal. Chem. 2010, 82, 19, 7865–7870, https://doi.org/10.1021/ac1001492 (accessed 2023-04-21)
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content: American Chemical Society National Historic Chemical Landmarks. The Keeling Curve. http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/keeling-curve.html (accessed 2023-04-21)
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content: “Charles D. Keeling, 77, Dies; Raised Global Warming Issue,” New York Times, June 23, 2005, Section C, Page 20, https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/23/science/charles-d-keeling-77-who-raised-global-warming-issue-dies.html (accessed 2023-04-21)
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content: Hanley, C. J., “Studying Global Climate Becomes a Father-Son Pastime,” Los Angeles Times, August 1, 2004, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-aug-01-adna-scientists1-story.html (accessed 2023-04-21)
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content: Keeling curve data: https://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/ (accessed 2023-04-21)
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content: The President’s National Medal of Science: https://www.nsf.gov/od/nms/recip_details.jsp?recip_id=191 (accessed 2023-04-21)
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content: Scripps Oceanography Video: “How Scientists Measure Carbon Dioxide in the Air”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXBzFNEwoj8 (accessed 2023-04-21)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: The Regents of the University of California, on behalf of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego Campus
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2022.0265.01
label: accession number
content: 2022.0265
label: catalog number
content: 2022.0265.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: flask, sampling
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 35 cm x 22.3 cm; 13 25/32 in x 8 25/32 in