How Can The Amount Of Carbon Dioxide Taken Up By Plants Be Measured From Space?

Until recently, this was impossible but new research has developed a complex computerised system that operates equipment aboard an environmental satellite that passes around the Earth once a day.

It is important to measure how much carbon dioxide plants are taking up because this gas is one of the causes of global warming – the slow increase in the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere that we are currently experiencing. The higher carbon dioxide levels come from industry and have been increasing for the last 200 years since the industrial revolution.

Knowing how much carbon dioxide plants absorb for photosynthesis gives information about how much of this excess carbon dioxide can be used by natural systems and how much is likely to add to global warming.

Old systems used equipment on towers or on aircraft but the satellite system takes thousands of measurements from thousands of points all over the Earth's atmosphere and provides a much more comprehensive picture of where carbon dioxide is being absorbed and at what rate.

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