With the rising carbon dioxide levels on Earth, we should be thankful for the remaining trees and oceans for saving us from early perishment. Our atmosphere’s carbon dioxide levels are through the roof — it’s the highest it’s ever been at 400 parts per million within the past 400,000 years. The aquatic life, the plants, all the tiny shrubs and water bodies together eat up 50 percent of our carbon emissions.

NASA has since launched a multi-year project that sets to determine the process of absorption of CO2 by the earth, and the underlying correlation between the rising temperature and absorption rate, if any.

“The land and the ocean are really doing us a big favor,” NASA Goddard atmospheric scientist Lesley Ott said. “Otherwise, you would have carbon building up in the atmosphere twice as fast as it does now.” Thus, we need to find out what helps with the absorption of carbon emissions and conserve that so our climate remains safe to live in. Well, as safe as possible.

[adinserter block=”7″]

The space agency is to fly satellites to the ISS and collect data from space. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 satellite from last year is already on the process to monitoring carbon dioxide distribution across the globe. Other aircrafts are planned to be flown over different parts of the earth, such as coral reefs, as super-high-resolution computer models are put to use.

Other such projects include, the agency’s North Atlantic Aerosols and Marine Ecosystems Study (NAAMES) which sent ships and aircraft to the North Atlantic to observe the largest phytoplankton bloom, microorganisms that are directly influenced by the climate. Also, NASA’s Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment plans to start its decade long study by fall next year, on how hotter temperatures in Alaska and Canada are affecting its carbon stores.

Author: Technology Blog