Earth ID: 4402

A Year of Global Carbon Dioxide Measurements

Visualizations by Alex Kekesi Released on November 19, 2015

Mollweide projected animation of CO2 data from the OCO-2 mission. Data spans from September 2014 to August 2015. As the data cycles through the year, you can see an increase CO2 concentrations across the northern hemisphere going from winter to spring. Then in the summer, as vegetation reaches it's peak, there is a noticeable decline in CO2 concentration throughout the entire northern hemisphere.

Carbon dioxide is vital for life on Earth, but an overload of the greenhouse gas is driving one of the most serious problems facing our planet: climate change. With NASA's new experimental satellite, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) scientists now have a more complete picture of how Earth is changing as carbon dioxide levels rise.

Colorbar for Carbon Dioxide (CO2) measured in parts per million (ppm). Shades of red are higher amounts, whereas shades of blue are lower.

Visualization Credits

Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Visualizer
Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC): Visualizer
Michelle Handleman (USRA): Lead Producer
Wade Sisler (NASA/GSFC): Lead Producer
Matthew R. Radcliff (USRA): Producer
Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC): Support
Annmarie Eldering (NASA/JPL CalTech): Lead Scientist

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

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https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/4402

Mission:
Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2)

Data Used:

Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2/OCO-2/Carbon Dioxide also referred to as: OCO-2

Observed Data - NASA - 9/6/14; 9/24/14; 11/3/14; 11/19/14; 12/5/14; 12/21/14; 1/25/15; 2/7/15; 2/23/25; 3/11/15; 3/27/15; 5/14/15; 6/1/15; 6/15/15; 7/1/15; 7/16/15; 8/1/15; 8/16/15

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Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.

Keywords:
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Atmosphere >> Atmospheric Chemistry/Carbon and Hydrocarbon Compounds >> Carbon Dioxide
SVS >> Hyperwall
NASA Science >> Earth
SVS >> Presentation
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Terrestrial Hydrosphere >> Water Quality/water Chemistry >> Carbon Dioxide

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0