NASA | A Year in the Life of Earth's CO2

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.

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[crewby]

The interesting part for me was the carbon monoxide production in the tropical areas. I had no idea about that. The other part of importance to me was actually seeing the real positive effect of absorption in the northern hemisphere during the growing season Seeing everything graphically is really important.

[swearok]

Look at South America and its rainforest throughout the year, it looks like a heartbeat. Pretty damn amazing!

[redfishbluefishfilm]

I found it interesting to watch the effect of the seasons and was surprised to see the stark contrast between the Northern and Southern hemispheres.  Important stuff.

[GregsKitchen]

it seems as though in the northern hemisphere when the trees lose their leaves in winter the CO2 rises, then in summer the trees suck up all the CO2 again... amazing

[Tlactl]

Its neat to see how the clouds of CO2 over areas with lots of plants are pulsing. I suppose it is because at night plants don't suck in as much CO2 from the air than as in  the day

[ddre]

Just imagine this now! This was in 2006.

[stratius]

Any plans to:
1) Show this visualization as a 3D globe, perhaps on an interactive webpage? It's hard to visualize the fluid dynamics near the poles since it's a single point.
2) Show this data over a larger timespan if possible? Over the span of decades?

[jobrecool]

You need to remake this for our last years (covid, brasil rainforest clearing, ...)
Would be really interesting :D

[suntank]

Is there a more recent simulation? Others and myself would like to see how bad things have gotten over the years and especially recently with the whole 400 ppm debacle. This is a really cool video and very interesting to watch!

[erniegilman]

In this video, the narrator talked about seasons but only from northern hemisphere point of view. More interesting than the patterns described are the differences between what happens in the winter of the southern hemisphere as opposed to the winter of the northern hemisphere, but there's only phrases like "as fall approaches, " making it sound like a global phenomenon... but when fall approaches in the north, spring approaches in the south   

[CrumCringle]

This is what I like to see. No fear mongering. No telling me what moral stance I should take. Just facts and and information

[stormysamreen]

You can see how CO2 clouds travel from USA to Europe and then are blocked by the Himalayas, to prevent them from going into South Asia. Such as at 0:43, a huge CO2 cloud stops abruptly at the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.

[spin]

The difference on the concentration of December and January is unreal.
I guess the scale is too short and the ~2 PPMV change from year to year makes green color red for the next year..

[TerraNimbusPelham]

This is a fascinating view of how much carbon dioxide respires from the soil when tillage is used. Notice the dates and how the red colors coincide with dates that farmers are usually plowing in the Northern Hemisphere, and how the colors recede when crops are growing. And then the CO rebounds when the crops are harvested. Carbon is sequestered in the soil when no tillage occurs. We can help reverse global warming simply by changing our agricultural practices!

[fintincollins]

Well the trees and plants must be having the time of their lives. Being able too breath easy for the first time in a long time .. wonderful

[TheMattThompson]

Hey hey, it's the model I work on at NASA Goddard. Such a great visualization!

[aflyguy]

Mercator projection is highly misleading.

[iaPSU]

Music for anyone else interested:
Title - Those Pretty Lights - Composer - Gregg Lehrman [ASCAP]

[lineskis]

amazing visualization of raw data! we're snow farmers and know the needs to cut down on emission in the winter months and need everyone's help to slow the rise of temps due to this!

[mickbatti]

Yes very cool, I like cfd modeling!
But CO2 concentrations only range from 377 to about 390! Thus contours give a very amplified view of the fluctuations! Also what is the co2 balance at the start of the new year?