Spaceborne detection of localized carbon dioxide sources

Florian M Schwandner; Michael R Gunson; Charles E Miller; Simon A Carn; Annmarie Eldering; Thomas Krings; Kristal R Verhulst; David S Schimel; Hai M Nguyen; David Crisp; Christopher W O'Dell; Gregory B Osterman; Laura T Iraci; James R Podolske

doi:10.1126/science.aam5782

Spaceborne detection of localized carbon dioxide sources

Science. 2017 Oct 13;358(6360):eaam5782. doi: 10.1126/science.aam5782.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA. [email protected].
² Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
³ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
⁴ Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931, USA.
⁵ Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, 28334 Bremen, Germany.
⁶ Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA.
⁷ NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA.

PMID: 29026015
DOI: 10.1126/science.aam5782

Abstract

Spaceborne measurements by NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) at the kilometer scale reveal distinct structures of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) caused by known anthropogenic and natural point sources. OCO-2 transects across the Los Angeles megacity (USA) show that anthropogenic CO₂ enhancements peak over the urban core and decrease through suburban areas to rural background values more than ~100 kilometers away, varying seasonally from ~4.4 to 6.1 parts per million. A transect passing directly downwind of the persistent isolated natural CO₂ plume from Yasur volcano (Vanuatu) shows a narrow filament of enhanced CO₂ values (~3.4 parts per million), consistent with a CO₂ point source emitting 41.6 kilotons per day. These examples highlight the potential of the OCO-2 sensor, with its unprecedented resolution and sensitivity, to detect localized natural and anthropogenic CO₂ sources.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't