Increase of concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has raised the concerns over climate change. However, precise understanding of the flow of carbon dioxide has not yet achieved. It is essential to forecast climate changes in earth.
The information of geographic distribution of CO2 does not exist. There are only a few Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Centers in United States and that is not enough to give essential data to the climate modelers. The flow of CO2 is not clearly known. Although there are theories suggesting the flow, the full understanding cannot be achieved without more data.
NASA introduced a new satellite, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO), scheduled in 2009. The mission of OCO is log in detail the exact flow of CO2. This gives more detail of the effect of the human activities to CO2. OCO will be able to observe most of the earth’s surface at least once every sixteen week. It can also compare its obtained data with other earth-observing satellites. The data obtained from OCO is highly accurate measured. However, some challenges have to be tackled for example the randomness of the flight of the OCO in high atmosphere.
OCO is meaningful in climate change research. It is the concern of all the people. OCO will be able to give us the answer.
Reference:
The world will soon know more about carbon dioxide: Retrieved Nov, 7th, 2008 from http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=7933604&story_id=12343919
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