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NASA Computer Model Provides a New Portrait of Carbon Dioxide

posted by LaminatorX on Thursday November 20 2014, @04:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the carbon-nation dept.

jbWolf writes:

There are some really neat looking videos on the NASA website showing how carbon dioxide moves throughout the earth's atmosphere.

Scientists have made ground-based measurements of carbon dioxide for decades and in July NASA launched the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite to make global, space-based carbon observations. But the simulation — the product of a new computer model that is among the highest-resolution ever created — is the first to show in such fine detail how carbon dioxide actually moves through the atmosphere.

The main article has a video that shows a world wide view over the year 2006. It runs about 3 minutes. Close-ups on a month's time scale can be found here and each of the 3 videos run about 30 seconds.

The main article mentions that CO2 concentrations reached 400 ppm (parts per million) for the first time in the Spring of 2014. Before the industrial revolution, it was about 270 ppm. The sub article mentions that the videos show 375 (dark blue) to 395 (light purple) ppm.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday November 20 2014, @10:07PM

    by FatPhil (863) <reversethis-{if.fdsa} {ta} {tnelyos-cp}> on Thursday November 20 2014, @10:07PM (#118271) Homepage
    If they're changable and violable on a whim, then the laws of physics are no longer the laws of physics.
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
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  • (Score: 2) by Leebert on Thursday December 11 2014, @03:52AM

    by Leebert (3511) on Thursday December 11 2014, @03:52AM (#124950)

    Missed the fact that you replied...

    If they're changable and violable on a whim, then the laws of physics are no longer the laws of physics.

    Sure they are. They're not changeable on a whim by anyone except the entity that created them. Who, as far as we can tell, never changes them.

    Wikipedia has an interesting Stephen Hawking quote:

    Hawking has stated that he is "not religious in the normal sense" and he believes that "the universe is governed by the laws of science. The laws may have been decreed by God, but God does not intervene to break the laws."

    Better said than I could have. Which is something I'd expect from a real scientist. :)