Watch the ebbs and flows of CO2 in the atmosphere via NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Suddenly, it makes sense that the North is melting faster than Antarctica. Most of the excess CO2 is generated up here.
An ultra-high-resolution NASA computer model has given scientists a stunning new look at how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere travels around the globe.
Plumes of carbon dioxide in the simulation swirl and shift as winds disperse the greenhouse gas away from its sources. The simulation also illustrates differences in carbon dioxide levels in the northern and southern hemispheres and distinct swings in global carbon dioxide concentrations as the growth cycle of plants and trees changes with the seasons.
The carbon dioxide visualization was produced by a computer model called GEOS-5, created by scientists at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office.
The visualization is a product of a simulation called a “Nature Run.” The Nature Run ingests real data on atmospheric conditions and the emission of greenhouse gases and both natural and man-made particulates. The model is then left to run on its own and simulate the natural behavior of the Earth’s atmosphere. This Nature Run simulates January 2006 through December 2006.
While Goddard scientists worked with a “beta” version of the Nature Run internally for several years, they released this updated, improved version to the scientific community for the first time in the fall of 2014.
With the bulk of heating taking place in the north, the Arctic sea ice is reaching a historic minimum:
Arctic sea ice has been on a decline for 20 years. This animation shows the 2015 evolution max (2/25) to min. (9/6)
https://t.co/SRezHHQHOg
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