As Earth Warms, NASA Targets ‘Other Half’ of Carbon, Climate Equation

[guno]

Great information from NASA based on scientific research and data


Carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere by human activities influences the amount of the sun’s energy trapped by Earth’s atmosphere. These emissions are the subject of a United Nations climate conference in Paris later this month. To improve the information available to policymakers on this issue, scientists are grappling with the complex question of whether Earth’s oceans, forests and land ecosystems will maintain their capacity to absorb about half of all human-produced carbon dioxide emissions in the future.



“NASA is at the forefront of scientific understanding in this area, bringing together advanced measurement technologies, focused field experiments, and cutting-edge research to reveal how carbon moves around the planet and changes our climate,” said Michael Freilich, director of NASA’s Earth Science Division. “Understanding how the planet responds to human carbon emissions and increasing atmospheric CO2 levels will position our nation to take advantage of the opportunities and face the challenges that climate changes present.”


As Earth Warms, NASA Targets ‘Other Half’ of Carbon, Climate Equation

 

[Old Rocks]

A very important half. Can we increase the uptake of what we have already put into the atmosphere? Ocean? And, at what rate? Will it match the unavoidable future outputs of CO2? How are the Arctic outputs of CH4 going to affect this equation? Big questions with complex answers. And, of course, the 'Conservatives' will do their best to kill any funding for the necessary investigations.