Seminar and Events Schedule

Global emissions of methane and carbon dioxide – the view from space

With the launch of several new satellites, scientists are increasingly able to monitor carbon dioxide and methane from space, creating a vast new record of greenhouse gas measurements in regions that were previously difficult to monitor. The first half of this talk focuses on methane emissions from China, the world’s largest emitter of anthropogenic greenhouse gases. We specifically use observations from the GOSAT satellite to evaluate the success of China’s methane emissions policies. The second half of this talk will focus on carbon dioxide sources and sinks estimated using NASA’s OCO-2 satellite. We quantify on how sources and sinks from the biosphere have been changing from year-to-year; understanding this variability is key to creating better future predictions of the global carbon cycle.With the launch of several new satellites, scientists are increasingly able to monitor carbon dioxide and methane from space, creating a vast new record of greenhouse gas measurements in regions that were previously difficult to monitor. The first half of this talk focuses on methane emissions from China, the world’s largest emitter of anthropogenic greenhouse gases. We specifically use observations from the GOSAT satellite to evaluate the success of China’s methane emissions policies. The second half of this talk will focus on carbon dioxide sources and sinks estimated using NASA’s OCO-2 satellite. We quantify on how sources and sinks from the biosphere have been changing from year-to-year; understanding this variability is key to creating better future predictions of the global carbon cycle.