Before satellite measurements, researchers relied on estimates and data from a group of air and ground sensors. and A tool on Mona Lua, Hawaii, with the longest record of direct carbon dioxide measurementsIt is also decided to close under the Trump budget.
It requires a sustainable and consistent data collection to learn trends. For this reason, for example, the United States government has funded a series of satellites Landsat since 1972 to create a database without interruption that clarifies the changes in the use of global lands.
But NASA is now preparing to close OCO-2 and OCO-3 instead of thinking about how to replace it when they definitely stop working. The missions are now working beyond their original lives, but scientists say that both crosses are in good health.
Can anyone replace NASA?
Research institutes in Japan, China and Europe have launched satellites in greenhouse gases. So far, all of them lack the spatial accuracy of OCO tools, which means that they cannot identify emissions sources of the same precision as American missions. A new European mission called CO2M will come closest to the repetition of OCO-2 and OCO-3, but it will not be launched until 2027.
Several special groups have launched their satellites to measure chemicals in the atmosphere, but primarily focused on discovering the local methane emissions for regulatory purposes, not on global trends.
One of the latest groups in this sector, known as the Mapper Carbon Alliance, launched its first small satellite last year. This non -profit federation includes JPL shareholders, the same laboratory that was born OCO tools, as well as Planet Labs, California Air Resources Council, universities, and private investment funds.
The government leaders in Montgomery, Maryland, set a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2027, and 100 percent by 2035. Mark Erich, Executive Director of the Democratic Province, said that the end of the carbon -sharing tasks in NASA “weakens our ability to hold pollutants accountable.”
“This decision will … erasing years of research that helps us to understand greenhouse gas emissions, plant health, and powers that lead climate change,” Elric said at a press conference last month.