NASA Orbiting Carbon Observatory: measuring the column averaged carbon dioxide mole fraction from space

David Crisp; Charles E. Miller; Philip L. DeCola

doi:10.1117/1.2898457

1 March 2008 NASA Orbiting Carbon Observatory: measuring the column averaged carbon dioxide mole fraction from space

David Crisp, Charles E. Miller, Philip L. DeCola

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Applied Remote Sensing, Vol. 2, Issue 1, 023508 (March 2008). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.2898457

Abstract

The NASA Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) will make space-based measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) with the precision, resolution, and coverage needed to characterize regional scale CO₂ sources and sinks and quantify their vari¬ability over the seasonal cycle. This mission will be launched in December 2008 and will fly in a 705 km altitude, 1:26 PM sun-synchronous orbit that provides complete coverage of the sunlit hemisphere with a 16-day ground track repeat cycle. OCO carries a single instrument designed to make co-boresighted spectroscopic measurements of reflected sunlight in near-infrared CO₂ and molecular oxygen (O₂) bands. These CO₂ and O₂ measurements will be combined to provide spatially resolved estimates of the column averaged CO₂ dry air mole fraction, X_CO2. The instrument collects 12 to 24 X_CO2 soundings/second over the sunlit portion of the orbit, yielding 200 to 400 soundings per degree of latitude, or 7 to 14 million soundings every 16 days. Existing studies indicate that at least 10% of these soundings will be sufficiently cloud free to yield X_CO2 estimates with accuracies of ~0.3 to 0.5% (1 to 2 ppm) on regional scales every month.

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David Crisp, Charles E. Miller, and Philip L. DeCola "NASA Orbiting Carbon Observatory: measuring the column averaged carbon dioxide mole fraction from space," Journal of Applied Remote Sensing 2(1), 023508 (1 March 2008). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.2898457

Published: 1 March 2008

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