NASA Set to Launch 'CO2 Hunter'. By Jonathan Amos, BBC, December 18, 2008.The US space agency is set to launch a satellite [on February 23, 2009] that can map in detail where carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere. Nasa's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) will pinpoint the key locations on the Earth's surface where CO2 is being emitted and absorbed... 'This is Nasa's first spacecraft specifically dedicated to mapping carbon dioxide,' principal investigator David Crisp told BBC News. 'The objective of the OCO mission is to make measurements that are so precise that they can be used to look for surface sources and sinks of CO2.' Nasa already has a CO2 detection instrument on its Aqua satellite but this looks at the greenhouse gas some five to 10km above the surface. OCO, on the other hand, will detail the concentration of carbon dioxide close to the ground where its warming effect is most keenly felt... Once in orbit, OCO will join a fleet of other satellites -- known as the A-Train -- which carry a range of instrumentation to give a rounded picture of Earth's atmospheric and water systems."
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