{"id":3963,"date":"2009-12-23T10:22:44","date_gmt":"2009-12-23T18:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=3963"},"modified":"2009-12-23T10:22:44","modified_gmt":"2009-12-23T18:22:44","slug":"nasas-carbon-trackers-yield-new-maps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/12\/23\/nasas-carbon-trackers-yield-new-maps\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA’s Carbon Trackers Yield New Maps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost lost amid the Copenhagen media clutter was last week’s meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. So this week we’re playing a little catch-up. Climate Watch contributor Molly Samuel has the last of three posts on some things that caught our attention at AGU.<\/em><\/p>\n

The UN\u2019s Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries, or REDD<\/a>, was a big topic the past two weeks at the climate conference in Copenhagen. Wealthy countries, including the United States, have put billions of dollars on the table to help developing countries use sustainable forestry practices.<\/p>\n

Back here on the California climate beat, there\u2019s forestry-related news, too. Scientists at the NASA Ames Research Center<\/a> in Mountain View (see map, below) have been working with the California Energy Commission and the Air Resources Board to measure California\u2019s greenhouse gas emissions for the state’s mandated greenhouse gas inventory<\/a> under AB-32 (the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006).<\/p>\n

\"Carbon
Carbon-mapping California by satellite. Image: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the American Geophysical Union<\/a> conference in San Francisco, NASA\u2019s Christopher Potter shared information he\u2019s gathered using MODIS<\/a>, an imaging instrument that\u2019s hitching a ride on NASA\u2019s Terra satellite. Potter’s data shows that California\u2019s ecosystems–forests, grasslands, croplands, wetlands, etc.–emit about the same amount of carbon that they absorb each year. And in wet years, they absorb considerably more. In an email Potter says, \u201cthe natural ecosystem sources can decrease or increase the net emissions of CO2 in the state by about 15%, depending on whether it is a normal precipitation year or a below-normal precipitation year, respectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

MODIS isn\u2019t NASA\u2019s only tool aimed at California as it circles the earth. AIRS<\/a>, or Atmospheric Infrared Sounder, collects data from the troposphere<\/a> (the layer of the atmosphere closest to the earth). NASA designed it to improve weather forecasting\u2014the troposphere is where our weather happens–but it\u2019s turned out to be an effective instrument for measuring carbons as they bubble up from the earth and circulate in the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Having collected seven years of data on carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane, scientists (and now you) can actually see where the carbons are coming from and where they go. NASA has posted animations showing the methane emitted by wildfires in California<\/a>, and maps of carbon dioxide concentrations<\/a> around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASA’s new maps pull together seven years of satellite data on carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane. Now you can actually see where carbons are coming from and where they go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":200,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[78,181,193,375,579,676],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-3963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thescience","tag-carbon-budget","tag-ecosystems","tag-emissions","tag-nasa","tag-technology","tag-wildfire"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nNASA's Carbon Trackers Yield New Maps | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/12\/23\/nasas-carbon-trackers-yield-new-maps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NASA's Carbon Trackers Yield New Maps | Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NASA's new maps pull together seven years of satellite data on carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane. Now you can actually see where carbons are coming from and where they go.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/12\/23\/nasas-carbon-trackers-yield-new-maps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-12-23T18:22:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2009\/12\/CarbonMap_NASA1.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Molly Samuel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Molly Samuel\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/12\/23\/nasas-carbon-trackers-yield-new-maps\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/12\/23\/nasas-carbon-trackers-yield-new-maps\/\",\"name\":\"NASA's Carbon Trackers Yield New Maps | Climate Watch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-12-23T18:22:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-12-23T18:22:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/75519ba3e4f9a37e4c2cb8b5a06cb1b2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/12\/23\/nasas-carbon-trackers-yield-new-maps\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/12\/23\/nasas-carbon-trackers-yield-new-maps\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/12\/23\/nasas-carbon-trackers-yield-new-maps\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"NASA’s Carbon Trackers Yield New Maps\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\",\"name\":\"Climate Watch\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/75519ba3e4f9a37e4c2cb8b5a06cb1b2\",\"name\":\"Molly Samuel\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/643ef9e6608b35e89a5fe132a953bfe7\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6abd3b949a89fe5109fa9917631d0b6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a6abd3b949a89fe5109fa9917631d0b6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Molly Samuel\"},\"description\":\"Molly Samuel joined KQED as an intern in 2007, and since then has worked here as a reporter, producer, director and blogger. 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