An improved record of carbon dioxide levels captured from space sets the stage for deeper understanding of climate change.
satellites
Posted inResearch & Developments
Cuts to Satellite Program Add “Uncertainty” and “Risk,” Suggests GAO Report
Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report suggesting that the plan for NOAA’s next generation of geostationary satellites, called GeoXO, could “put vital observations at risk.”
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Limits of Satellite Detection of Extreme Carbon Cycle Events
Satellite carbon dioxide observations detect more carbon-cycle extremes than ground stations but still miss many events and underestimate their magnitude.
Posted inFeatures
Chemical Conversations Between Forests and the Sky Affect Air Quality, Clouds, and More
Trees release invisible gases that can create clouds, trap heat, and worsen pollution. Scientists are busy trying to unravel forests’ complex atmospheric contributions in a changing climate.
Posted inNews
Tracking Penguin Poop from Space Reveals Antarctica’s Changing Ecosystems
Long-term records documenting the colors of penguin guano shed light on how declining sea ice may be affecting penguin diets.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
A Satellite-Based Global Carbon Flux Product is Sensitive to Droughts
A parsimonious ecosystem model constrained by data from NASA’s Soil Moisture Active and Passive mission generates a global daily carbon flux product that is highly sensitive to drought and pluvial events.
Posted inResearch & Developments
NASA Rushes to Buoy a Swiftly Sinking Telescope
The Neil Gehrels’ Swift Observatory is plummeting toward Earth, and NASA is spending $30 million to try to stop it.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Small-Scale Indian Ocean Dynamics Underpin Marine Ecology and Climate
With unique monsoon, mesoscale and submesoscale processes, the Indian Ocean offers critical insights and new challenges to achieving a full understanding of marine environments and the Earth system.
Posted inNews
Weak Faults Play a Strong Role in the Tibetan Plateau’s Deformation
Ten years’ worth of data reveal that two theories about how the Tibetan Plateau deforms are both probably right.
Posted inNews
Vegetation Moves Upslope Across the Himalayas
The vegetation line in places like Nepal and Bhutan is shifting upward by meters per year, with implications for how water moves through the planet’s “Third Pole.”