Greenhouse Gas

Greenhouse Gas Cycle



Credit: NASA


Earth observation is paramount for various parts of our society. The NASA Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) will observe the greenhouse gas cycle for us. You've probably heard about the water cycle; there is a greenhouse gas cycle too. Nicely illustrated above - and about to be observed by OCO to it's best ability.

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) is a new Earth orbiting mission sponsored by NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) Program. The ESSP Program funds competitively selected, low to moderate cost Earth Science missions. These highly focused missions acquire exploratory measurements of the atmosphere, the oceans, the land surface and the solid Earth. These missions share a common goal of improving the capability of Earth scientists to predict changes in weather, climate and natural hazards.