Nasa launches carbon dioxide tracker satellite

Alok Jha
The Observer, Sunday 22 February 2009

The world's first satellite designed to map concentrations of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere is to be launched by Nasa.
Policymakers and governments will be able to use the data when setting and monitoring CO2 emissions targets designed to tackle climate change. "It's critical that we understand the processes controlling carbon dioxide in our atmosphere so we can predict how fast it will build up in the future and how quickly we will have to adapt to climate change," said David Crisp, principal investigator for the Oco. The Oco will blast off on a Taurus XL rocket from Vandenberg air force base in California in the early hours of tomorrow morning.
It will help scientists answer one of the biggest mysteries about the movement of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere. Of all of the greenhouse gas emitted into the air since the industrial revolution, around 40% has stayed there. Half of the remainder has been absorbed by the Earth's oceans, but the rest has not been be accounted for. Scientists think the gas must have been absorbed on land but no one really knows where these missing carbon sinks are. Oco will collect about 8m measurements every 16 days for at least two years.
• For more on this story and a video of the rocket that will launch Oco go to guardian.co.uk/environment