A Year of Global Carbon Dioxide Measurements 

Launched on July 2, 2014, NASA’s second Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) satellite is designed to study atmospheric carbon dioxide, or CO2, from space. This animation shows column-averaged atmospheric CO2 concentrations, from September 2014 to August 2015, observed by OCO-2. Northern Hemisphere atmospheric CO2 concentrations increased from September to May, as during the late fall through early spring period human activities and plant decomposition add CO2 to the atmosphere at a rate far exceeding the withdrawal of CO2 from the atmosphere through plant respiration. In contrast, Northern Hemisphere atmospheric CO2 concentrations decrease from May to July, as during spring and summer the absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere by vegetation outweighs the increases of CO2 from human activities. Since the beginning of the industrial age, human activities have and continue to produce rapid increases in the long-term trend of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). Measurements from OCO-2 are being used to find the human and natural sources that are emitting CO2 into the atmosphere and the natural sinks that are absorbing this gas at the Earth’s surface. 


For more information, visit: svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?4402 

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