Got carbon? NASA to launch Orbiting Carbon Observatory

William Atkins
Friday, 20 February 2009 19:31

Science - Space

The mission, sponsored by NASA’s Earth System Science Pathfinder Program, will help scientists better understand the natural processes that are carried out by atmospheric carbon dioxide, an important greenhouse gas, which occurs naturally and artificially (human-made) in the atmosphere of Earth.

Consequently, the OCO mission will help provide more reliable forecasts of changes in the distribution and abundance of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere—which will help to predict the direction that Earth’s climate is going in the future.

According to the Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) website Orbiting Carbon Observatory (the manufacturer of the spacecraft for the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory), “Scientists believe fossil fuel use and other human activities have almost doubled the concentrations of this gas since the beginning of the industrial revolution.”

It adds, “Atmospheric carbon dioxide is an efficient greenhouse gas because it absorbs and traps infrared radiation (heat) emitted by the Earth's surface, preventing it from escaping to space. OCO measurements will help scientists to better understand how increasing CO₂ concentrations is driving climate change around the globe.”

And, “Although the biosphere and oceans currently absorb about half of the CO2 generated by human activities, the nature and geographic distribution of the sources and "sinks" of carbon dioxide are not clearly understood."

Most importantly, "By providing the first global CO₂ measurements from space, the two-year OCO mission has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the global carbon cycle.”

Additional information, plus several additional articles, on the OCO mission is found on the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory website.