Can the planet continue to absorb our carbon emissions?
In short: NASA's OCO-2 mission is revealing how Earth reacts to rising heat-trapping gases. Watch this update to understand the critical balance between human activity and the planet's natural ability to regulate our atmosphere.
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) marks NASA's first satellite dedicated specifically to measuring carbon dioxide levels. It provides essential data on how the Earth responds to the accumulation of greenhouse gases produced by burning fossil fuels.
Currently, land and oceans absorb roughly half of all human-produced carbon dioxide emissions. However, scientists remain uncertain if these natural systems can maintain this rate of absorption in the future as atmospheric concentrations continue to rise.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Carbon and Earth’s future climate on This Week @NASA – November 13, 2015
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