This image was created with data acquired by the Atmospheric Infrared
Sounder, AIRS, during July 2008. The image shows large scale patterns of
carbon dioxide concentrations that are transported around the Earth by the
general circulation of the atmosphere. Dark blue corresponds to a
concentration of 368.2 parts per million and dark red corresponds to a
concentration of 386.2 parts per million. The effect of the northern
hemisphere mid-latitude jet stream is to set the northern limit of
enhanced carbon dioxide. The zonal flow of the southern hemisphere
mid-latitude jet stream results in a belt of enhanced carbon dioxide
girdling the globe, fed by biogenesis activity in South America, forest
fires in both South America and Central Africa, and the clusters of
gasification plants in South Africa and power generation in southeastern
Australia.
The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) in conjunction with the Advanced
Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) sense emitted infrared and microwave
radiation from the Earth to provide a three-dimensional look at Earth's
weather and climate. Working in tandem, the two instruments can make
simultaneous observations all the way down to the Earth's surface, even in
the presence of heavy clouds. With more than 2,000 channels sensing
different regions of the atmosphere, the system creates a global, 3-D map
of atmospheric temperature and humidity, cloud amounts and heights,
greenhouse gas concentrations, and many other atmospheric phenomena. The
AIRS and AMSU fly onboard NASA's Aqua spacecraft and are managed by the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, under contract to NASA.
JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
The AIRS Public Web site can be found at http://airs.jpl.nasa.gov.
