A NASA satellite will measure carbon dioxide from space to give scientists insight on how much carbon is absorbed back into plants and the Earth's ocean. The $465 million mission, which is called OCO-2, will involve using an instrument to split light into 1,000 different colors to be analyzed for emissions.
While carbon has been increasing as more of the world is developed, the amount reabsorbed by plants and the ocean has stayed the same at about half, according to recorded data from the last 50 years, Discovery News reported.
"At the same time, we can see that we have this annual cycle of (carbon levels) dropping every summer ... as the forests and plants start to grow. This is the Earth breathing," said atmospheric scientist Michael Gunson, with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., as quoted by Discovery News.
NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 will be measuring CO2 from space for the first time by analyzing sunlight reflected from Earth, which will show chemicals from the greenhouse gas. When it's put into orbit, the satellite will travel 438 miles above Earth to gather "hundreds of thousands of measurements" daily.
While scientists will be able to observe areas emitting large amounts of carbon, the mission is more about the overall picture.
"In principle, we fully expect to be able to see points where there are large emissions, compared to points nearby, but this is really not a mapping mission," OCO-2 project manager Ralph Basilio of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory told reporters at a prelaunch press conference, as quoted by Discovery News.
"Trying to get to a point of understanding the details of those processes will give us some insight into the future and what's likely to happen over the next decades, even if we continue to consume more and more fossil fuels and emit more and more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere."
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