NASA's New Satellite Aims to Solve a Climate Change Mystery
Monday, February 23, 2009 - 19:28
in Earth & Climate
Human activity--from coal-fired power plants to car tailpipes--is responsible for nearly 30 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide wafting into the atmosphere yearly. We know that roughly 15 billion metric tons remains in the atmosphere for a century or more. A portion of the rest ends up in the ocean--acidifying saltwater and making life tough for corals--and another chunk appears to be helping tropical trees grow thicker. We don't know, however, where the rest of humanity's CO2 is disappearing to. [More]