Scripps Geochemist Wins Research Award

Ralph Keeling, a professor of geochemistry at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, has received the Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, based in Bonn, Germany.

The foundation honors career achievements that have had a significant impact on a researcher s discipline. In its citation, the foundation noted that Keeling s pioneering initiation and development of atmospheric oxygen time-series opened up new ways to understand the balances of carbon sources and sinks on the planet, particularly for understanding ocean versus terrestrial sinks of fossil-fuel CO2.

Award winners are invited to spend a period of up to one year cooperating on a long-term research project with specialist colleagues at a research institution in Germany. This award supports Keeling s current research collaboration with Professor Martin Visbeck and Professor Douglas Wallace at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences at the Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel.

I am very honored to receive this award, which carries distinction as well as facilitating interaction between leading scientific institutions in the U.S. and Germany, said Keeling.

Keeling maintains the ongoing measurement of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels named the Keeling Curve after his father, and is considered a worldwide experts in the area of atmospheric gases, especially oxygen. The foundation noted that it bestows the research award on scientists who are expected to continue producing cutting-edge achievements in the future.

The award is valued at 60,000 euros, or about $83,000.