Global warming is on the rise
and NASA has data to prove it. A 3D representation produced by the space
agency's Goddard Space Flight Center reveals an alarming truth: Carbon dioxide
is rising and it is slowly heating up our planet.
NASA credits the rise in carbon dioxide emissions to the
overwhelming dependence on fossil fuels like petrol and coal. The amount of
greenhouse gas generated has been steadily rising ever since the Industrial
Revolution began in the 18th century. “Scientists have tracked the rising
concentration of heat-trapping carbon dioxide for decades using ground-based
sensors in a few places. A high-resolution visualisation of the new combined
data product provides an entirely different perspective. The visualisation was
generated by the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, using data from the agency's Orbiting
Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite, built and operated by NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California,” said NASA in a statement.
According to NASA, around 50 per cent carbon dioxide from the
burning of fossil fuels remains in our atmosphere while the other half is
absorbed through natural processes like photosynthesis. “However, those
seemingly simple numbers leave scientists with critical and complex questions -
which ecosystems, especially on land, are absorbing what amounts of carbon
dioxide? Perhaps most significantly, as emissions keep rising, will the land
and the ocean continue this rate of absorption, or reach a point of
saturation?” NASA said in a statement. The NASA video - titled ‘Following
Carbon Dioxide Through the Atmosphere' – shows the circulation of atmospheric
carbon dioxide from September 1, 2014, to August 31, 2015. The data collected
by NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite - built by the space
agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory - was combined with a high-resolution
weather model to create the 3D simulation. NASA hopes that the video will not
only help spread awareness but also help determine the future of Earth's
climate and carbon flux - the exchange of carbon dioxide between the
atmosphere, land and ocean. The video can be found on NASA Goddard's YouTube
channel.
Source: DNA-18th-December-2016
