NEDERLAND — In a forest just off the Continental Divide, Duane Kitzis runs a federal government air-collecting operation — trapping the relatively fresh air here at 10,000 feet and storing it in hundreds of aluminum cans.
The 4-foot-tall cans, called “standards,” are used to calibrate machines that measure the pollution people put into the atmosphere.
The lab has been designated by the United Nations World Meteorological Organization as the Central Calibration Laboratory for greenhouse-gas measurement worldwide.
When Kitzis and his National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration colleagues began their mission 25 years ago, only a few other atmospheric scientists were interested. Back then, the Kyoto Protocol to fight global warming hadn’t been hatched, and nobody was making promises to curb pollution.
Today, Kitzis is swamped, racing to reduce a 70-order backlog for the air collected in Colorado. He has shipped 400 cans this year, up from 275 in 2005 and 200 a decade ago. He supplies 163 atmospheric research groups in 31 countries from the South Pole to Siberia.
“This air goes global,” Kitzis, 53, said, filling another can this week as aspen leaves rattled around his compound and gray clouds rolled off mountain peaks.
The work begins when Kitzis flicks a pump switch and a roof-top filter pulls in 4 cubic feet of air per minute. He turns valves to route that air from high-pressure green tanks into the shiny aluminum cans. He then mixes the precise amount of a greenhouse gas — such as carbon dioxide, methane or nitrous oxide — into each can.
Researchers from the University of Colorado Mountain Research Center often use the rocky road to the facility. So Kitzis posts signs to block off the road when he is collecting air to prevent trace vehicle emissions from tainting the standards.
He hauls filled cans down to a NOAA lab in Boulder for testing before they are shipped and, eventually, injected into atmosphere-testing instruments for calibration.
Without a common measuring system, scientists could not make comparisons.
How does the atmosphere change as air flows from Beijing to Boulder? How much do U.S. commuters and industrial smokestacks add to atmospheric pollution before air reaches Europe? When Russia’s oil and gas producers vent wells, how much methane does that add to the global mix in the atmosphere?
“Those are examples of questions scientists are trying to answer,” Kitzis said. “The only way to do that is by measuring in as many places as possible.”
This month, Kitzis hosted and trained a team of 16 climate scientists from China.
Chinese interests in atmospheric testing have grown as China — population, 1.3 billion — faces pressure to curb pollution. Now the world’s leading emitter of greenhouse gases, China has responded by developing solar and wind power and expanding its network of atmospheric-monitoring stations.
“We are encouraging our partners, China for example, to make their own ‘standards’ ” of air mixed with greenhouse gases for calibration of instruments, said James Butler, director of NOAA’s Global Monitoring Division. “That way, they can supply their own stations. But we need to make sure they are centrally coordinated with us.”
The exchange this month helped launch a new U.S.-China accord for climate data-sharing, skill-sharing and cooperative research.
India, too, has sent a scientist to work at NOAA facilities. While the U.S. runs the most extensive network of atmosphere-measuring stations — more than 60 from Greenland to Antarctica — Europe, Australia and Asia are developing their own.
Countries under pressure to prove they’re living up to promises to curb greenhouse-gas emissions increasingly seek evidence based on unassailable measurements.
The politics and disputes surrounding climate change have intensified.
“My purpose isn’t to mitigate international or political decisions but rather to help anyone measure, compare and study the changing levels of greenhouse gases,” Kitzis said.
The season’s first snowflakes falling in the mountains now complicate his task. Scientists still seek the air canisters during winter. Kitzis uses skis and a tracked vehicle to navigate snowdrifts.
This week, he’s stockpiling plenty of empty cans and planning to hire an assistant to help meet the increased demand.
“I’m proud that I’ve made a contribution to the study of climate change,” he said. “It’s one of the major global changes that humans will have to adapt to.”
Bruce Finley: 303-954-1700 or bfinley@denverpost.com
