OCO-2 New spacecraft for monitoring our planet

New Carbon Observatory To Improve Climate Change Prediction | Video http://t.co/VEB0MNnk3T

— SPACE.com (@SPACEdotcom) 27 Juin 2014

CO2 is a constituent of the Earth's atmosphere. We know that CO2 is one of several gases that trap heat near the surface of the Earth. These gases are known as greenhouse gases. Many scientists have concluded that substantial increases in the abundance of CO2 will generate an increase in the Earth's surface temperature.

Since the beginning of the industrial age, the concentration of CO2 has increased from about 280 parts per million to over 390 parts per million to date. In May 2013, the Mauna Loa Observatory measured a record 400 parts per million in CO2, for the first time ever in human history. Furthermore, a global network of ground-based measurement sites has observed an increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration by almost 20% over the past 50 years - the most dramatic change that we have ever seen in human history.

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