Nasa is scheduled to launch its first spacecraft dedicated to measuring carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmosphere on July 2014. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) mission will provide a more complete, global picture of the human and natural sources of carbon dioxide, as well as “sinks” – such as forests and oceans – which absorb and trap the gas. OCO-2 will be Nasa’s second attempt to launch a satellite specifically for the purpose of monitoring carbon dioxide. The first OCO launch in 2009 unfortunately failed to reach orbit. At approximately 400 parts per million, atmospheric carbon dioxide is now at … Continue reading #Nasa OCO-2 satellite will measure carbon dioxide levels in Earth’s atmosphere – an annotated infographic