Combusting oil and coal produces energy, but also carbon dioxide emissions. Of the estimated 100 million tons of carbon dioxide emitted per day on earth, half remains in the atmosphere, a quarter is dissolved in the ocean, and the rest is absorbed by plants, but scientists are trying to understand more about when, where, and how plants soak up these emissions. One big question they hope to understand better is how plants have kept pace with fossil fuel emissions that have tripled since 1960.
According to a recent New York Times article, NASA will be launching a satellite to understand better these questions. The satellite will take a million measurements per day with a tool designed to measure the colors of the sunlight as it is reflected by the earth’s surface. The intensity of the color reveals the amount of carbon dioxide the light beam passed through.
A similar mission failed in 2009 when equipment on the satellite malfunctioned, resulting in a crash soon after takeoff.
