Although originally designed to measure atmospheric water vapor and temperature for weather forecasting, scientists working with the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on the NASA Aqua Spacecraft are now using AIRS to observe atmospheric carbon dioxide. Scientists from NASA, NOAA, ECMWF, UMBC, Princeton and CalTech using several different methods are measuring the concentration of carbon dioxide in the mid-troposphere (about 8 km above the surface). The global map of carbon dioxide above, produced by AIRS Team Leader Dr. Moustafa Chahine at JPL, shows that despite the high degree of mixing that occurs with carbon dioxide, the regional distribution can still be seen by the time the gases reach the mid troposphere. Climate modelers are currently using the AIRS data to understand the global distribution and transport of carbon dioxide and improve their models.
Image and text courtesy of the AIRS Science Team at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.