Kristie Ann Boering (born October 6, 1963) is a Professor of Earth and Planetary Science and the Lieselotte and David Templeton Professor of Chemistry at University of California, Berkeley. She studies atmospheric chemistry and mass transport in the extraterrestrial atmosphere using kinetics and photochemistry. Boering was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2018.
Boering was appointed to the faculty at University of California, Berkeley in 1998.[2] She was made an Associate Professor with tenure in 2005.[citation needed] Boering works on photochemical isotope effects.[2] She combines measurements from aircraft, high-altitude balloons and ground-based instruments to study atmospheric chemistry and climate.[2] Boering combines global-scale measurements with computer simulations to study stable isotopes. Boering uses isotopes as tracers of atmospheric chemistry, for example, the triple isotope composition of atmospheric oxygen can be used to monitor biosphere productivity.[2][3] She has also studied radiocarbon in the stratosphere.[4] She is also interested in two and three-dimensionalchemical transport models in the stratosphere.[5][6] She investigates the exchange between biosphere and atmosphere gases on million and billion year timescales, studying the atmosphere, ice cores and rocks.[6][7] Boering also studies the climate on other planets.[8]
Boering demonstrated that the use of fertilizer was responsible for dramatic increases in the amount of nitrous oxide in the Earth's atmosphere.[9] She studied firn air, an air sample from antarctic ice that was stored in Cape Grim.[9] By studying the levels of nitrous oxide, Boering identified a well-known seasonal cycle, but surprisingly saw the same thing using isotope-ratio mass spectrometry.[9]
Boering is married to Ronald C. Cohen who is Director Berkeley Atmospheric Science Center.[1][17] Cohen is the son of Adele Cohen.[1] Boering and Cohen have two children, one of whom was born a few days after she submitted her package for tenure.[18]