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University Front and Center in NASA Mission Measuring Carbon Dioxide

Published February 2009

A team of Colorado State University atmospheric scientists is at the center of NASA's next Earth orbiting science mission, which will map variations of carbon dioxide across the globe.

On Tuesday, February 24, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will launch the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, known as OCO, from Vandenberg Air Force Base to measure reflected sunlight in color bands absorbed by carbon dioxide and oxygen. The Colorado State team will be part of an international team responsible for turning those observations into precise measurements of carbon dioxide concentration and ultimately determining sources of the greenhouse gas as well as “sinks” or places where the gas is being absorbed.

Tracking the Earth’s “breathing”

The mission is essentially tracking the Earth’s “breathing,” said Scott Denning, atmospheric science professor at Colorado State.

“The issue is half of the CO2 from fossil fuels doesn’t stay in the air,” Denning said. “We’re trying to follow tiny changes in CO2 as it moves over the world to find out whether the planet will keep doing what it’s doing. We essentially have automatic 50 percent emissions reductions, provided for free by the oceans and land. That’s about $400 billion per year worth of carbon based on the current market price of $100 per ton of carbon.”

O'Brien leads international team

Denis O’Brien, senior research scientist at Colorado State, leads an international team responsible for developing the algorithm or computer program that will convert the spectroscopic measurements to atmospheric CO2 data.

“We have a pretty good idea of what’s happening to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but we don’t know the mechanisms,” said O’Brien, who, with Graeme Stephens, University Distinguished Professor at Colorado State, worked on early concepts for OCO. “We’re going to take the CO2 measurements and derive sources and sinks accounting for winds, local weather, etc.”

The measurements are critical because 50 to 60 percent of the planet’s carbon dioxide is currently being absorbed into oceans and incorporated into land plants and soils. With OCO, scientists will learn more about where that’s happening, how it works, and whether the phenomenon will continue.

• Press release, Feb. 19, 2009
• Orbiting Carbon Observatory
  (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory )
• CloudSat
  (Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State)

More resources for reporters and media

(click photo to download, right click audio link to download)

Scott Denning
Professor, Department of Atmospheric Science
Audio

Randy Pollock
Instrument Systems Engineer and Calibration Lead, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Audio

Chris O’Dell
Research Scientist, Department of Atmospheric Science
Audio

David Baker
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Atmospheric Science
Audio