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“NOAA encourages science that adds benefit to
society and the environment. CarbonTracker does both,” said retired
Navy Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, Ph.D., undersecretary of
commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator.
“Increasingly, observations of the Earth are demonstrating a
remarkable impact on our understanding of human and natural systems.
We are transitioning this understanding gained from intensive research
into operations that benefit the environment and the economy.”
CarbonTracker distills an accurate assessment of
greenhouse-gas increases or decreases. The resolution will increase to
observe differences in concentration on finer geographical scales over
time as data become available. Using the limited data that currently
exist, the model can characterize emissions each month among U.S.
regions, such as the West or the Southeast. As the observation network
becomes denser, however, policymakers will be able to check the
CarbonTracker Web site to compare emissions from urban centers. For
instance, the resolution will be fine enough to determine the
difference in net emissions from Sacramento as compared to San
Francisco.
CarbonTracker’s initial applications are primarily
for scientists, and to attract new partners in NOAA’s efforts to
expand greenhouse gas observations in the United States and globally.
NOAA and its partners are encouraging the addition of new monitoring
sites around the United States and around the world to increase the
resolution of point sources. Ultimately the site will provide
easy-to-use information on local scales for policymakers, business
leaders, teachers, and the public.
“CarbonTracker’s potential is enormous,” said
Pieter Tans, head of NOAA/ESRL’s Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases group,
who developed the tool. “We are moving into an era where emissions
could have a price tag. If carbon trading, emissions reduction and
sequestration schemes become more common around the globe, society
will need the ability to compare their relative value. Accurate and
objective information on changing atmospheric concentrations will be
essential for both research and impact assessments.”
Until now, scientists have relied on limited direct
records of atmospheric carbon dioxide, mainly from remote locations.
Also, previously available computer models could not maximize the
utility of the information derived. Only analyses of very broad global
patterns of carbon dioxide emissions and uptake were possible.
Estimates of local carbon emissions have used proxy data, such as
reported point-source inventories, gasoline sales records, and other
tallies from energy organizations and nations monitoring greenhouse
gases, but there has been no way to verify what was actually released
into the atmosphere.
CarbonTracker uses many more continuous
observations than previously taken. The largest concentration of
observations for now is from within North America. The data are fed
into a sophisticated computer model with 135 ecosystems and 11 ocean
basins worldwide. The model calculates carbon release or uptake by
oceans, wildfires, fossil fuel combustion, and the biosphere and
transforms the data into a color-coded map of sources and storage “sinks.”
One of the system’s most powerful assets is its ability to detect
natural variations in carbon uptake and release by oceans and
vegetation, which could either aid or counteract societies’ efforts to
curb fossil fuel emissions on a seasonal basis.
“Only the atmosphere itself can give us the real
answer on all sources and sinks,” said Wouter Peters, who led the
development of CarbonTracker at NOAA/ESRL and also is affiliated with
the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES).
“This information will be critical. How atmospheric concentrations of
greenhouse gases change in the future is one of the key uncertainties
in the global climate models and the biggest driver behind climate
change.”
NOAA collaborates with partners in France,
Australia, Brazil and other nations to measure greenhouse gases
globally. Through a longstanding collaboration, Environment Canada has
provided a quarter of the data for North America. However, the global
network is still sparse. Using today’s data, the system can
distinguish surface emissions on a broad scale, but plans are underway
to refine observations and modeling of carbon sources on much smaller
scales.
NOAA’s Earth System Research Lab is the only
institution measuring atmospheric greenhouse gases globally and
provides more than half of the world’s data. The network includes
individuals gathering air samples in flasks that are then shipped to
the Boulder lab for analysis, aircraft carrying automated samplers to
grab air from higher altitudes, and sensors atop tall towers
transmitting data via telephone. |
