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OCO-2 News Articles

  • Excitement Grows as NASA Carbon Sleuth Begins Year Two October 29, 2015
    Excitement Grows as NASA Carbon Sleuth Begins Year Two
    Scientists busy poring over more than a year of data from NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) mission are seeing patterns emerge as they seek answers to the science questions that drive the mission.
  • As September 15, 2015
    As "good" as it gets
    The common adage “good things will come to those who wait” cannot ring truer than for NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) mission and team members. A little more than a year after launch, the team is proud to make their first milestone in demonstrating the capability and precision of the OCO-2 instrument in measuring atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations.
  • Great plains agricultural greenhouse gas emissions could be eliminated August 7, 2015
    Great plains agricultural greenhouse gas emissions could be eliminated
    Researchers from the Natural Resource Ecology Lab at Colorado State University and their partners have completed a historical analysis of greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. Great Plains that demonstrates the potential to completely eliminate agricultural greenhouse gas emissions from the region.
  • Feds: US heat-trapping carbon dioxide pollution from power plants drops to lowest since 1988 August 5, 2015
    Feds: US heat-trapping carbon dioxide pollution from power plants drops to lowest since 1988
    WASHINGTON (AP) - The Energy Department says heat-trapping pollution from U.S. power plants hit a 27-year low in April.
  • The Point of No Return: Climate Change Nightmares Are Already Here August 5, 2015
    The Point of No Return: Climate Change Nightmares Are Already Here
    The worst predicted impacts of climate change are starting to happen — and much faster than climate scientists expected
  • River buries permafrost carbon at sea August 5, 2015
    River buries permafrost carbon at sea
    As temperatures rise, some of the organic carbon stored in Arctic permafrost meets an unexpected fate--burial at sea.
  • Obama unveils rules to limit carbon dioxide emissions, curb climate change August 3, 2015
    Obama unveils rules to limit carbon dioxide emissions, curb climate change
    In a sweeping bid to curb heat-trapping pollution that is altering the planet's climate, President Barack Obama on Monday unveiled the first-ever limits on carbon dioxide emissions from the nation's power plants.
  • Drought's lasting impact on forests July 31, 2015
    Drought's lasting impact on forests
    In the virtual worlds of climate modeling, forests and other vegetation are assumed to bounce back quickly from extreme drought.
  • New research will boost grasp of North American carbon cycle July 29, 2015
    New research will boost grasp of North American carbon cycle
    For centuries, people have transformed and splintered landscapes and ecosystems in North America.
  • 'Carbon sink' detected underneath world's deserts July 28, 2015
    'Carbon sink' detected underneath world's deserts
    The world's deserts may be storing some of the climate-changing carbon dioxide emitted by human activities, a new study suggests. Massive aquifers underneath deserts could hold more carbon than all the plants on land, according to the new research.
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Watching the planet breathe
Watching the planet breathe

When plants photosynthesize, they use energy from sunlight to turn carbon dioxide from the air into sugars used to live and grow. In doing so, they give off a fluorescent light — a glow that can’t be seen with the naked eye, but that can be seen with the right instruments. More photosynthesis translates into more fluorescence, meaning that the plants are very productive in taking up carbon dioxide. The amount of carbon dioxide taken up by plants is called “gross primary productivity,” and is the largest part of the global carbon cycle.