NASA Invested in Cracking Earth's Carbon Puzzle
How will Earth react to increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere? NASA is a trailblazer in using satellite and airborne sensors to study carbon around our planet.
It's a scientific conundrum
with huge implications for our future: How will our planet react to the
increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?That seemingly simple question is particularly
tricky because carbon -- an essential building block for life on Earth -- does
not stay in one place or take only one form. Carbon in its many forms, both
from natural and human-caused sources, moves within and among the atmosphere,
the ocean and land as our living planet breathes. To track and inventory carbon
and unravel the many intricate processes that cause it to morph across the
planet is an epic challenge.And that's where NASA comes in.The agency is a trailblazer in using
space-based and airborne sensors to observe and quantify carbon in the
atmosphere and throughout the land and ocean, working with many U.S. and
international partners.For more than two decades, NASA has used the
vantage point of space to tackle the carbon puzzle one piece at a time. The
agency has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the tools needed to get
the job done, from building and launching spacecraft and developing new
instruments and integrated datasets to funding basic research, field work and
computer modeling. And that investment continues today.Several NASA spacecraft, including some built
and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California,
currently collect global observations used to track different forms of carbon
that scientists use in the broad field called carbon cycle science, which
includes greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane.NASA's newest
carbon-observing mission in orbit, launched in 2014, is the JPL-built Orbiting
Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2), which is making unprecedented, accurate
global measurements of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and providing
unique information on the natural processes controlling carbon exchange between
land and air and between the atmosphere and ocean. OCO-2 data have allowed
scientists to study in detail how shifts in rainfall alter the amount of carbon
stored or released by vegetation and how changes in ocean temperature affect
ocean water's ability to absorb carbon dioxide.NASA supports a variety of carbon-related
research programs totaling about $100 million a year that delve into the
physical and biological processes controlling the ways our planet's changing
environment influences -- and is influenced by -- life on Earth.NASA-funded research in terrestrial ecology,
for example, studies how changes in ecosystem structure and function influence
the regional and global carbon cycles. NASA is funding a multi-year field
campaign in Alaska and northwest Canada calledABoVE(the Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment) that is investigating how
changes in Arctic permafrost and ecosystems in a warming climate result in
changes to the balance of carbon moving between the atmosphere and land.
Several JPL scientists are part of the ABoVE team.Research efforts underway in ocean biology and
biogeochemistry focus on understanding and predicting the biological,
ecological and biogeochemical changes in the upper ocean. Since ocean
ecosystems play a major role in Earth's carbon cycle, it's essential to better
understand and quantify the mechanisms of carbon flow and their interaction
with local ecosystems.This August, NASA embarks on an oceanographic
expedition to the northeast Pacific calledEXPORTS(the Export Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing study) that will
help scientists develop the capability to better predict how carbon in the
ocean moves, which could change as Earth's climate changes. The National
Science Foundation is a co-sponsor of the expedition.Just as basic research into Earth's carbon
cycle continues to be a robust activity at NASA, so is the development of new
space-based tools for carbon monitoring. Several are now nearing launch and in
development.The JPL-managedECOSTRESS(the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space
Station), slated to launch this summer to the International Space Station, will
make the first-ever measurements of plant water use and vegetation stress on
land. These data are expected to provide key insights into how plants link
Earth's global carbon cycle with its water cycle.Later this year ECOSTRESS will be joined on
the space station byGEDI, the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation. GEDI will use a
spaceborne laser to precisely measure the height of the vegetation canopy in
forested regions of the world to help estimate how much carbon is locked up in
forests and how that quantity changes over time.In early 2019, JPL'sOCO-3instrument is scheduled to launch to the
space station to complement OCO-2 observations and allow scientists to probe
the daily cycle of carbon dioxide exchange processes over much of Earth.And still in the early stages of development
is the Geostationary Carbon Cycle Observatory (GeoCarb) mission, planned to launch in the early 2020s. GeoCarb, which includes
JPL participation, will pioneer the quantification and monitoring of the carbon
stocks of North, Central and South America from geostationary orbit. The NASA
instrument, to be launched on a commercial communications satellite, will
collect 10 million observations a day of carbon dioxide, methane and carbon
monoxide.NASA's full-court press on
carbon cycle science and the development of new carbon-monitoring tools is
expected to remain a top priority for years to come.