Satellite will show how the earth 'breathes'

Satellite will show how the earth 'breathes'

www.telegraph.co.uk

A satellite that will measure how the earth "breathes out" greenhouse gases is to be launched into space this month.

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The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) has been created in Japan to monitor emissions from around the planet from space and it is hoped the data it provides will help in the fight against global warming.

The orbiting satellite will track the emission of carbon dioxide and methane, gases that contribute heavily to the greenhouse effect.

Dubbed Ibuki - Japanese for "breath" - the satellite will record greenhouse gas emissions in 56,000 locations across the globe while orbiting the planet once every three days at an altitude of 666km.

While there are currently around 280 observations points around the world monitoring greenhouse gas emissions, the new satellite will offer scientists a non-terrestrial perspective of global emissions for the first time.

Takashi Hamazaki, satellite project manager of the satellite at Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said: "Ground observation points at present [ ] are not evenly distributed, so we can by no means say we are observing the entire globe.

"By comparison, GOSAT will have 56,000 observation points and will be able to acquire data covering the entire globe every three days. We think this will improve the accuracy of global warming predictions."

The absorption of carbon dioxide by the planet's plants and its photosynthesis into oxygen forms part of the cycle of "breathing" which scientists will be able to monitor, along with greenhouse gases emitted by deforestation, factories and the burning of natural fuels.

The denser the gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, the more infrared rays of light are absorbed, enabling the satellite to determine their concentration via the strength of the light emitted.

The data from the satellite will be updated every three days and analysed by researchers at the Environment Ministry and the National Institute for Environmental Studies, before being distributed freely to scientists around the globe.

"I'd like to watch the earth breathing," said Mr Hamazaki. "I'd like to make a visual model of the Earth and its various ecosystems' inhalation and exhalation of CO2 and methane." The project, which costs an estimated £259 million (34.6 billion yen), will be launched into space from Tanegashima Space Centre in Japan on Jan 21.


www.telegraph.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by theflashor
The planet Earth seems to be a living breathing thing. The rivers are the blood, the land its skin, the sea its water content. I've always gone with the theory that us Human types are the bacteria living off Earth. The coal and the oil is the fat of the Earth.

lol well everyones allowed there opinion i suppose!

although its an interesting thought "" 1 thinks ""

I'm scared when they find out and are able to show just how much the US pumps out in a day or over a period of a week.

Actually this might be good to show the world who is doing more polluting than they say they are uhhhmm I'm pretty sure China and others will have some explaining to do.


[edit on 6-1-2009 by SLAYER69]

I was led to believe that the thinning of the ozone layer is directly related to this ballooning effect. And that eventually there will possibly be some type of atmospheric breach. Possibly even similar to ejections from and asteroid that could form a comet or dirty snow balls? There's already been mention of small ice spheres floating in space. I would imagine that planet 'burps'

[edit on 6-1-2009 by aleon1018]

wow i'm shocked we don't have anything in space doing this already, it seems like a really important part of understanding the climate. We should know where the gases which make up our air bloom and blow, if this thing has only just gone up that means we wont have any worthwhile trends data for over a decade -it'll be useful to know whats where but untill we know the cycles and dynamics of the system we wont be able to predict it.

I suppose the rocket has been paid for and sponsered by Al Gore

This was a one liner till now.



Wolfie

I wonder if this satellite will be used to aid in the carbon tax that so many environmentalists / globalists are pushing for.

People seem to forget the following FACTS!!

There are nearly 18,000 signatures from scientists worldwide on a petition called The Oregon Petition which says that there is no evidence for man-made global warming theory nor for any impact from mankind's activities on climate.

Scientists draft reports for the IPCC, but the IPCC are bureaucrats appointed by governments, in fact many scientists who contribute to the reports disagree with the 'spin' that the IPCC and media put on their findings.

As carbon dioxide emissions from cars and factories does not have any measurable impact on climate, these taxes are 'just another tax' on enterprise and mobility, and have no real green credentials.

Extreme weather correlates with the cycle of solar activity, not carbon dioxide emissions or political elections, the recent heavy rainfall in winter and spring is a perfect example of this — it occurred at solar maximum at a time when solar maxima are very intense — this pattern may well repeat every 11 years until about 2045.

A report in the journal 'Science' in January of this year showed using information from ice cores with high time resolution that since the last ice age, every time when the temperature and carbon dioxide levels have shifted, the carbon dioxide change happened AFTER the temperature change, so that man-made global warming theory has put effect before cause — this shows that reducing carbon dioxide emissions is a futile King Canute exercise! What's more, both water vapour and methane are far more powerful greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide but they are ignored.

AND THE BIGGEST

96.5% of all carbon dioxide emissions are from natural sources, mankind is responsible for only 3.5%, with 0.6% coming from fuel to move vehicles, and about 1% from fuel to heat buildings. Yet vehicle fuel (petrol) is taxed at 300% while fuel to heat buildings is taxed at 5% even though buildings emit nearly twice as much carbon dioxide!

reply to post by theflashor


I've always believed this to be true, I've read some information from both sides of the fence and had a gut feeling that the whole environmental movement is just another control mechanism. Great post!