Professor's satellite to gauge emissions

A university professor is taking a new approach to understanding carbon emissions.

Professor of atmospheric and oceanic science Ross Salawitch is working to launch an Orbiting Carbon Observatory into space as a way to measure the presence of carbon in different areas of the earth's atmosphere. By studying where the carbon emitted into the atmosphere spreads, countries would be able to better understand carbon emissions and climate stability.

Salawitch and a team of professors from other universities are working on the OCO, which is scheduled for a December 2008 launch.

The OCO will collect more stable measurements of carbon by taking high-resolution measurements from space and combining them with data collected from ground sites set up all around the globe.

"We know about half of carbon released by human account does not stay in the atmosphere," said Salawitch. "Our scientific goal is to pinpoint precisely where carbon that does not stay in the atmosphere goes."

According to Salawitch the OCO is a superior method of measuring carbon emissions because it is not susceptible to high levels of variation. Other methods of collection, such as ground-based ones, vary based on the season and cloud cover because they only take surface measurements, causing a fluctuation in measured carbon uptake.

Some scientists believe the excess carbon is taken up by forests and organic material, others believe the carbon ends up in the ocean and others say it is a combination of both outcomes. The OCO seeks to put these discrepancies to rest.

There are five other orbiting observatories that attempt to do everything related to measuring carbon, ozone depletion and global warming. In their attempt to measure everything, the data is not nearly as thorough, Salawitch says. He hopes the OCO "can do one thing only and do it really, really well."

Their unstated objectives, however, involve transcribing the carbon data into climate change and carbon cycle measurements. Carbon emissions have been linked to global warming and climate change.

If countries decide to regulate carbon, this data will show how much carbon each country emits and uptakes and could allow benefits or penalties for carbon present.

"Our data will be the most controversial geophysical measurements ever made," Salawitch said.

morrowdbk@gmail.com