AIRS – New Tool For CO2 Research Unveils Amazing Breakthroughs
30 December 2009 | Green Technology | 1 Comment
NASA – the “National Aeronautics and Space Administration” developed a new tool for a better understanding of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, its movement and transport. The new device is called AIRS – “Atmospheric Infrared Sounder Instrument” and is placed on the NASA’s Aqua spacecraft. It takes daily measurements of concentration carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
A recent briefing at American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco researchers brought new data to light, which represents information from more than seven years of the AIRS mission, measurements regarding the concentration and distribution of carbon dioxide, global transport in the atmospheric region called “troposphere”, located between 5 to 12 kilometers (3 to 7 miles) from the surface of the Earth. This are the first piece of information concerning the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide which is based entirely on scientific observations.
Among the breakthroughs that have surfaced is the fact that CO2 isn’t uniformly distributed in the troposphere, as initially predicted, but rather in random “lumps”. The study also revealed the existence of a “carbon-belt” over the southern hemisphere, the lesser populated region of the Earth and regarded as a “sink” of carbon dioxide from the more pollutant and populated northern hemisphere.
Another major finding from the AIRS data was the observation that the rise in water vapor is in strong relation with the rise in CO2 levels, which leads to the warming of the climate. The warming of the climate is not caused directly by the carbon dioxide, but by the Planet’s feedback to its rise, the data shows. One such important feedback is water vapor, which, with its rise, makes the Earth more humid, thus amplifying the initial warming of the Planet caused by CO2.
The AIRS system is also recognized as the best instrument yet to be used in the “seven-day” weather forecast.
Tags: AGO, AIRS, atmosphere, breakthrough, carbon dioxide, carbon-belt, climate, co2, greenhouse gas, NASA, troposphere, warming, water vapor
Its good to know about the new device “AIRS” developed by “NASA” ,which measures the carbon-di-oxide ratio in the atmosphere through which we can take preventing actions towards reducing this from the environment .