NASA to Launch Its First Carbon-Testing Satellite to Measure Greenhouse Gas

NASA plans to launch a satellite Monday that will measure concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth's atmosphere, providing scientists with the most complete and precise set of measurements yet of the greenhouse gas. The mission's purpose is to map global CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, which scientists can use to pinpoint sources of CO2 emissions and areas where CO2 is being removed from the air through absorption, called "sinks." Currently, researchers make only about one hundred measurements per week of atmospheric CO2 from sites around the globe, primarily by hand-filling empty vials with air and shipping them back to laboratories to be tested. I More

(Source: NewsHour - Feb 23)