The simulation provides definitive proof that climate change is caused by human activity.
Global warming is on the rise and NASA has data to prove it. A 3D representation produced by the space agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center reveals an alarming truth: Carbon dioxide is rising and it is slowly heating up our planet.
NASA credits the rise in carbon dioxide emissions to the overwhelming dependence on fossil fuels like petrol and coal. The amount of greenhouse gas generated has been steadily rising ever since the Industrial Revolution began in the 18th century.
“Scientists have tracked the rising concentration of heat-trapping carbon dioxide for decades using ground-based sensors in a few places. A high-resolution visualization of the new combined data product provides an entirely different perspective. The visualization was generated by the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, using data from the agency's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite, built and operated by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California,” said NASA in a statement.
According to NASA, around 50 per cent carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels remains in our atmosphere while the other half is absorbed through natural processes like photosynthesis.
“However, those seemingly simple numbers leave scientists with critical and complex questions - which ecosystems, especially on land, are absorbing what amounts of carbon dioxide? Perhaps most significantly, as emissions keep rising, will the land and the ocean continue this rate of absorption, or reach a point of saturation?” said NASA in a statement.
Such models can be used to better understand and predict where carbon dioxide concentrations could be especially high or low.
The NASA video -- titled ‘Following Carbon Dioxide Through the Atmosphere’ -- shows the circulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide from September 1, 2014, to August 31, 2015. The data collected by NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite -- built by the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory -- was combined with a high-resolution weather model to create the 3D simulation.
NASA hopes that the video will not only help spread awareness but also help determine the future of Earth’s climate and carbon flux -- the exchange of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere, land, and ocean. You can watch the video below.
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 "NASA, 3D Simulation, Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenhouse Gas, OCO-2, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Global")
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