OCO-2 Early Glint Retrievals Over Water

Launched on July 2, 2014, the second Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) is the first NASA Earth-observing satellite designed to study atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) from space. Measurements from OCO-2 will be used to find the human and natural sources that are emitting CO₂ into the atmosphere and the natural sinks that are absorbing this gas at the Earth’s surface.

This pair of images compares preliminary estimates of column-averaged volume mixing ratios of carbon dioxide, or X_CO2, from OCO-2 glint observations over the ocean to those generated by the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System Model, Version 5 (GEOS-5). The large scale features are quite similar, but there are subtle differences that are being studied to determine whether they indicate biases in these early OCO-2 X_CO2 estimates or limitations of the model. Over time, these comparisons are expected to substantially improve the accuracy and reliability of both the measurements and the models.

See https://oco.jpl.nasa.gov/