Earth  ID: 11836

Visualizing Carbon Monoxide

Story by Ellen T. Gray | Visualizations by Jesse Allen Released on April 14, 2015
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A NASA satellite maps an invisible pollutant and its sources.
Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that emerges from wildfires, vehicle tailpipes and other human sources. Once in the atmosphere it is one of the ingredients for ground-level ozone, a harmful pollutant that contributes to smog—sometimes thousands of miles from where the carbon monoxide originated. An instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite called Measurements of Pollutants in the Troposphere, or MOPITT, was the first dedicated to tracking sources of carbon monoxide from space and monitoring levels across the globe. And the news is good. Satellite measurements of carbon monoxide since 2000 show that emissions have declined at a rate of one percent per year. Watch the video to see monthly changes in global carbon monoxide levels from 2000 to 2013.
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This video shows carbon monoxide levels observed by NASA's Terra satellite from April 2000 to September 2013. Gray regions indicate no data.
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Carbon monoxide levels peak during spring in the Northern Hemisphere. This map shows the average emissions for April 2004.
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Map of average carbon monoxide emissions for April 2008.
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Map of average carbon monoxide emissions for April 2013.
 

Related Stories

Global Carbon Monoxide
Monthly Carbon Monoxide (Terra/MOPITT)

Story Credits

Lead Visualizer/Animator:
Jesse Allen (Sigma Space Corporation)

Lead Writer:
Ellen T. Gray (ADNET Systems, Inc.)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Video and images courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory/Jesse Allen

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11836

Keywords:
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Earth