For the first time, researchers have detected short-term, regional fluctuations in atmospheric carbon dioxide across the globe due to emissions from human activities.
Using a combination of NASA satellites and atmospheric modeling, the scientists performed a detection of human CO2 emissions changes. To do this they used data from NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) to measure drops in CO2 emissions during the Covid-19 pandemic from space.
Previous studies looked at the effects of lockdowns early in the pandemic and found that global CO2 levels dropped slightly in 2020. However, by combining the high-resolution satellite data with modeling and data analysis tools from NASA’s Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS), the team was able to narrow down which monthly changes were due to human activity and which were due to natural causes at a regional scale.
The team compared the measured changes in atmospheric CO2 with independent estimates of changes in emissions due to lockdowns. The agreement between emissions models and atmospheric CO2 measurements provides strong evidence that the decreases were due to human activities.
GEOS also contributed important information on wind patterns and other natural weather fluctuations affecting CO2 emission and transport. “This study really is bringing everything together to attack an enormously difficult problem,” said Lesley Ott, a research meteorologist at NASA.
www.scitechdaily.com/nasa-makes-first-of-its-kind-detection-of-reduced-human-co2-emissions/