The Institute of Environmental Physics mourns the loss of Ingeborg Levin, who passed away on February 10, 2024 at the age of 70. With the long-standing head and founder of the carbon cycle research group at the IUP, we are losing a pioneer of greenhouse gas research and an institute member who witnessed almost the entire history of environmental physics in Heidelberg and helped shape it over many years.
Ingeborg Levin studied physics in Heidelberg and completed her diploma thesis in 1978 at the Institute of Environmental Physics, which had only been founded three years earlier. The title of her thesis "Regional modeling of atmospheric CO2 based on C-13 and C-14 measurements" already points to central elements of her entire scientific career, namely the use of carbon isotopes to understand the dynamics of the most important greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Ingeborg Levin's dissertation on "Atmospheric CO2, sources and sinks on the European continent" continued this research consistently and successfully in 1984.
The supervisor of these theses was the founding director of the IUP, Karl Otto Münnich, who was an important and highly esteemed mentor for Ingeborg. The time series of radiocarbon measurements at the Heidelberg site, which began under his aegis in 1976, was not only continued by Ingeborg, who had held a position as a scientist at the IUP and headed the carbon cycle research group since her doctorate, but also expanded by new elements. The measurement series of CO2 and 14C were supplemented in the 1990s by continuous SF6, methane and nitrous oxide analyses. Another trace gas to whose measurement and application in greenhouse gas research Ingeborg has made important contributions since her dissertation until recently is radon.
With all these tools, Ingeborg has primarily pursued the goal of determining both global and regional sources and sinks of the most important greenhouse gases as accurately as possible. She was aware of the fundamental importance of such data for climate research, as well as the need to integrate the local measurement series into European and global data sets and to continue them as part of a long-term monitoring program. For many years, she therefore played a crucial role within the WMO GGMT community, where she was not only considered a leading expert, but also a valued colleague and friend. This commitment led Ingeborg to the realization that future greenhouse gas research requires a highly precise and standardized data basis. This was her incentive to campaign for the establishment of the European research infrastructure ICOS (Integrated Carbon Observation System). The central radiocarbon laboratory of ICOS was established at the IUP in Heidelberg as a result of her initiative. She named the laboratory, which went into operation in 2017, the Karl Otto Münnich Radiocarbon Laboratory in honor of her early mentor.
The ICOS 14C laboratory also ensures the continuation of the atmospheric 14C measurements in Heidelberg, which have been carried out without interruption since 1976. The main aim of these measurements is to independently verify the greenhouse gas emissions estimated from emission inventories and their reduction in accordance with politically set targets. For this purpose, 14C is a uniquely informative tool, as Ingeborg and her colleagues have been able to demonstrate convincingly. However, the long-term 14C measurement series has proven to be extremely important for understanding the carbon cycle far beyond this. For example, Ingeborg and her co-authors used it to derive important quantitative conclusions about the global oceanic CO2 uptake and the net primary production of the biosphere.
The influential contributions that Ingeborg has made throughout her scientific career, particularly to the use of radiocarbon in greenhouse gas and climate research, received special recognition a few years ago. In 2020, the European Geosciences Union (EGU) honored Ingeborg Levin with one of its highest awards, the Alfred Wegener Medal. This EGU prize is bestowed to scientists who have achieved exceptional international standing in atmospheric, hydrological or ocean sciences, for their merit and their scientific achievements. Ingeborg was recognized for her fundamental contributions to our present knowledge and understanding of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the global carbon cycle.
Ingeborg Levin was a scientist with heart and soul. Even after reaching retirement age in 2019, she remained scientifically active and especially connected to the ICOS 14C laboratory she founded and to her students. She has now unexpectedly passed away, leaving a painful gap in carbon cycle research. However, her scientific achievements will remain and continue to have an impact. We will honor her memory.
Image source: Werner Aeschbach