Meijer, Prof. Harro

Harro Meijer is a full professor of Isotope Physics at the Centre for Isotope Research (CIO), and moreover he is director of ESRIG, the energy institute of the natural sciences. The Centre for Isotope Research has a renowned laboratory for carbon-14 dating.
The abundance of the isotopes of "normal" elements such as Hydrogen, Oxygen and Carbon differs slightly between the materials they occur in, such as between plants and the air they grow in, and between water vapour in air and the snow originating from it. These small differences can give us detailed information about the origin of atmospheric greenhouse gases, but also about climate circumstances in the past. Both are being used at the CIO, for greenhouse gas measurements at station Lutjewad at the Wadden Sea coast, and on the oil- and gas platform F3 in the North Sea.
In the year 2000, Meijer set up the Lutjewad Measurement Station near Hornhuizen. That is where he and his team have been measuring the composition of the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the air, for over 25 years. By looking at the various forms of carbon in the measurements, the are mapping where the CO2 originates and where it ends up.
The carbon variants that Meijer is measuring in the atmosphere are like a fingerprint that shows the material’s source. For example, it can be clearly deduced that the increase in atmospheric CO2 is due to the use of fossil fuels. However, Meijer is also interested in the continuation of the cycle, such as how much of the atmospheric carbon ends up in plants and oceans. This is something he can also infer from his measurements.
Meijer has traveled very often to Greenland to take samples from a snow layer he has produced in 2007, using a snow gun. "This way we can follow how fresh snow changes over the years as a function of time and pressure of the snow falling on top."

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Last modified: | 11 September 2025 2.43 p.m. |