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The O rbiting C arbon O bservatory ( OCO ) Mission Watching The Earth Breathe…Mapping CO 2 From Space. Atmospheric CO 2 and the OCO-2 Satellite Mission Dr. Annmarie Eldering, Deputy Project Scientist Dr. Michael R. Gunson , Project Scientist 16 October 2010.
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The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) Mission Watching The Earth Breathe…Mapping CO2 From Space. Atmospheric CO2 and the OCO-2 Satellite Mission Dr. Annmarie Eldering, Deputy Project Scientist Dr. Michael R. Gunson, Project Scientist 16 October 2010
CO2 concentrations are going up Measurements show that CO2 concentrations have been increasing. The increases are large in the last 50+ yrs.
Surface temperature is increasing Surface temperature differences from the long term average show that temperatures have been warmer than average over the last 20 years. CRUTEM3 is a model, all others are measurements.
Predictions of future temperature • Predictions of temperature in the future depend on the CO2 concentrations. That depends on the type of energy that we use and growth in the future. • But all predictions show temperature increases many times what we have experienced so far.
OCO-2 Will Help Solve the Carbon Mysteries OCO-2 will make the first space-based measurements of CO2 with the accuracy needed to quantify sources and sinks of this important greenhouse gas.
OCO-2 uses sunlight to measure CO2 • Our ‘remote sensing’ technique relies on measuring sunlight that passes through the atmosphere, reflects on Earth’s surface, and passes back through the atmosphere to the instrument. • We are building an instrument that will be ready to launch in February 2013.