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FALLBROOK – Fallbrook Climate Action Team will present Ralph Keeling in a Zoom meeting Tuesday, July 25, at 6:30 p.m. Ralph Keeling is professor of geochemistry in the Geosciences Research Division of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California San Diego.

Keeling's research focuses on atmospheric composition, the carbon cycle and climate change. He is considered a leading investigator of the global oxygen cycle for his precise measurements and analysis techniques. Keeling developed his method for measuring atmospheric oxygen levels utilizing interferometry techniques in the laboratory. He began pioneering measurements of changes in atmospheric oxygen levels from air samples collected at stations around the world.

At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, FCAT began holding its meetings virtually on Zoom. The first meeting was a discussion of Charles Keeling's "Curve," a one-man show performed by Mike Farrell. FCAT discussed the Keeling Curve with Farrell and NASA climate scientist Peter Kalmus. The play is about Charles Keeling who created the Keeling Curve. His son Ralph Keeling continues his father's work at Scripps.

The Keeling Curve measures the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Levels of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide eclipsed 420 parts per million for the first time in human history in 2021. Keeling will explain the rise of carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere over the past 300 years and the data the researchers collect, known as the Keeling Curve. When Scripps Oceanography scientist Charles David Keeling first began taking measurements in 1958, CO2 levels were at 315 parts per million.

This rise in CO2 levels primarily explains the extreme weather events we've been experiencing to a greater and greater degree.

Fallbrook Climate Action Team is an all volunteer group. FCAT presents monthly, except presentations about climate change and mitigation, usually on the last Tuesday of the month on Zoom. To receive the Zoom link, sign up for the group's e-blast on http://fallbrookclimateactionteam.org.

Submitted by Fallbrook Climate Action Team.