GMD Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases Group (CCGG)

The NOAA ESRL Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases group makes ongoing discrete measurements from land and sea surface sites and aircraft, and continuous measurements from baseline observatories and tall towers. These measurements document the spatial and temporal distributions of carbon-cycle gases and provide essential constraints to our understanding of the global carbon cycle.

CO2 Trends

Trends in Carbon Dioxide

Recent monthly values and growth rate of carbon dioxide measurements from the NOAA/ESRL Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, and monthly mean CO2 values globally averaged over marine surface sites. Updated monthly.
Carbontracker

CarbonTracker

CarbonTracker is a system that calculates carbon dioxide uptake and release at the Earth's surface over time. The goal is to produce quantitative estimates of atmospheric carbon uptake and release that are consistent with observed patterns of CO2 in the atmosphere.

Data Visualization

An interactive application for plotting various data sets. Users can view data including near real-time preliminary CCGG measurement results, obtain details about each sampling location, manipulate and compare CCGG data sets, and create custom graphs.

Cooperative Network

An international effort to make regular discrete samples from a globally distributed network of sites. Air samples are collected approximately weekly which are analyzed for the amounts of multiple gases and for the stable isotopes of CO2 and CH4.

Observatory Measurements

To obtain detailed understanding of both the short term and long term variations of greenhouse gases, on-site measurements are made at four of the NOAA/ESRL baseline observatories, which are far from any pollution sources affecting the gases of interest.

Tall Tower Measurements

The tall tower network provides regionally representative measurements of CO2 and related gases in the continental boundary layer. Existing television, radio and cell phone towers are utilized as sampling platforms for atmospheric trace gases.

Aircraft Measurements

An automated system for obtaining air samples from aircraft. Data collected by the aircraft program provide a view of how the large-scale horizontal and vertical distribution of the measured trace gases change throughout a given year over the continent.

Standard Gases

GMD is the WMO Central Calibration Laboratory for CO2, CH4 and CO, and is responsible for maintaining and distributing the WMO Mole Fraction scale for these gases. GMD also provides preparation and calibration services of compressed air cylinders for standard gases.

GLOBALVIEW

A carbon cycle model validation tool designed to enhance the spatial and temporal distribution of atmospheric observations of CO2, CH4 and other related atmospheric measurements. GLOBALVIEW is constructed using observations from a cooperative global observing network.