Finally: visualized OCO2 satellite data showing global carbon dioxide

[Horn]

Guest essay by Erik Swenson
In July of 2014, NASA launched (http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=11583) its most advanced carbon dioxide monitoring satellite, The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2). The first OCO burned up on launch (http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/06/13/nasa-to-attempt-launching-another-carbon-observatory-the-last-one-burned-up/). There has been a lot of anticipation regarding the data (http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/07/23/oco-i-can-see-your-house-emitting-co2-from-here/) from this instrument. However, over a year after it launch, there has been little public information presented about its results. Theonly data made available by NASA has been images (http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/12/20/agu14-nasas-orbiting-carbon-observatory-shows-surprising-co2-emissions-in-southern-hemisphere/) showing CO2 from an AGU14 session.
These images are shown below.
Figure 1: NASA-provided OCO-2 data for Oct 1 – Nov 11, 2014
http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/mainco2mappia18934.jpg
Figure 2 NASA-provided OCO-2 data for Nov 21 – Dec 27, 2014
Source: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011700/a011788/F5a.png
Back in May 2015, there was a release of some visualized data showing mixing ratios of CO2 over the oceans (http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=30600):
For some reason, NASA has not chosen to publish any recent updates of the OCO-2 satellite data. Many people are interested in the data from OCO-2, but have not been able to access the information. NASA has now provided access to the raw data from OCO-2, but the data is in the HDF file format (https://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/HBDOCS/hdf.html). No common commercial programs such as Excel can access this data in this form.
I have created a program to parse this data, and attempt to graph it in a form that closely matches the output of the NASA images. The data is available from 9/20/2014 – 9/22/2015 as of this writing. I have generated the plots in approximately 6 week intervals. It takes about that much data to cover most of the globe with observational data. You can see how the orbit path is from this NASA visualization story (http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=11548):

From NASA: “It takes 16 days and 233 orbits for the satellite to produce a complete global picture of carbon dioxide.”

A few implementation notes.
The data from each sample is put into an array. Each point is added to the array as a circular blob. The center point of the circle has a weight of 1 for the averaging function. The remaining points in the circle are weighted in a decreasing manner from the center. This choice is based on the images from NASA which show circular artifacts.
All of the images use the same min/max scale of 380 – 415 ppm. This does not give the best dynamic range for each image, but it does present a good range over all of the images.
The NASA images are chopped beyond 60 degrees N and S latitude. I have chosen to show whatever data is there.
All data points are plotted from the OCO-2-Lite files regardless of warn_level. Warn_level is used to judge the quality of the sample. The OCO-2-Lite files say they are the “high-quality” samples, so I chose to use them all.
The data used for these images is from the OCO-2-Lite v7 data set. It can be accessed here:
https://co2.jpl.nasa.gov/#mission=OCO-2
Finished visualizations
The data here is presented without comment. I will leave it to others to decide what this data means. So, without further ado – here is the data I have processed.
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/clip_image006_thumb1.jpg?w=625&h=359 (http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/clip_image0061.jpg)
Figure 3: Processed data from Oct 1 – Nov 11, 2014
Figure 3 is an attempt to match the first NASA image from Oct 1 – Nov 11, 2014 to see how closely my algorithm matches. Note that NASA has adjusted the data set multiple times since the release of the NASA image. The current version is v7. I am not sure what changes have been made in the data.
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/clip_image008_thumb1.jpg?w=625&h=359 (http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/clip_image0081.jpg)
Figure 4 : Processed data from Nov 16 – Dec 31, 2014
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/clip_image010_thumb.jpg?w=625&h=359 (http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/clip_image010.jpg)
Figure 5 : Processed data from Jan 1 – Feb 15, 2015
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/clip_image012_thumb.jpg?w=625&h=359 (http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/clip_image012.jpg)
Figure 6 : Processed data from Feb 16 – Mar 31, 2015
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/clip_image014_thumb.jpg?w=625&h=359 (http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/clip_image014.jpg)
Figure 7 : Processed data from Apr 1 – May 15, 2015
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/clip_image016_thumb.jpg?w=625&h=359 (http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/clip_image016.jpg)
Figure 8 : Processed data from May 16 – Jun 30, 2015
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/clip_image018_thumb.jpg?w=625&h=359 (http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/clip_image018.jpg)
Figure 9 : Processed data from Jul 1 – Aug 15, 2015
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/clip_image020_thumb.jpg?w=625&h=359 (http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/clip_image020.jpg)
Figure 10 : Processed data from Aug 16- Sep 12, 2015
UPDATE: Eric Swenson provides this map in comments showing CO2 over the entire yeafrom From Septemeber 2014 to October 2015 – Anthony
https://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/oco2-1year-co2-globalmap.png?w=720&h=415
Also, reader “edimbukvarevic” provides this map of anthropogenic CO2 emissions for comparison:

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2015/10/04/finally-visualized-oco2-satellite-data-showing-global-carbon-dioxide-concentrations/#comment-2042074

[mick silver]

does this make plant life grow better.............. huh

[Horn]

does this make plant life grow better.............. huh

it means they spent a bunch of money on computations, models, satellites and algorithms to figure out what mama taught you as a boy.

April showers bring May flowers.

[StreetsOfGold]

In July of 2014, NASA launched (http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=11583) its most advanced carbon dioxide monitoring satellite,

It only took the first line to realize this utter Bull (you know the word) shiznit!

NASA NEVER tells the truth and there are NO "SATELLITES" IN (this imaginary place) they call "outer space"
that's science FICTION

[7th trump]

It only took the first line to realize this utter Bull (you know the word) shiznit!

NASA NEVER tells the truth and there are NO "SATELLITES" IN (this imaginary place) they call "outer space"
that's science FICTION

Hahahahaha...............no satellites huh?
Hahahahahaha...I can go outside on any given unclouded night and watch them through my telescope or the naked eye as they pass overhead. I've even seen the space shuttle a time or two....even watched a russian satelite come down over the US about 24 years ago. It stopped traffic on highway 61. Its started t oburn up over Texas and flamed out north of Iowa and didnt take long...big and bright and clearly a satellite.

I suppose you dont believe in dinosaurs either and they are clearly described in the Bible.

[Shami-Amourae]

Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is a colorless and odorless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. Its basis is the unstable radical Hydroxide, the components of which are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol.

Dihydrogen Monoxide contributes to the Green House effect more than any chemical compound combined.


When will we have a discussion of common sense Dihydrogen Monoxide reform and the banning of Dihydrogen Monoxide?

[Cebu_4_2]

When will we have a discussion of common sense Dihydrogen Monoxide reform and the banning of Dihydrogen Monoxide?

How would this effect the cows?

[Glass]

How would this effect the cows?

Once banned the cows will stop inhaling it.

[vacuum]

Interesting graphs. Note the scale was set from 380 to 415 to achieve the blue to red scale, so don't let the colors fool you. It is merely a visual aid to see the relative lowest and highest concentrations, necessarily not the absolute levels.

Note how much it changes between summer and winter. To me that implies that man made contributions are less than natural contributions, because human activity doesn't change that drastically between summer and winter. Either that or plants are much better at absorbing it during winter, which doesn't make sense because most growth is during summer.

The most interesting thing is where the CO2 concentrations are highest. Not sure why Africa has a band of high concentration. China seems to have a pretty consistently high concentration.

[Horn]

Someone mentioned that there was a lag when the CO2 hits a sink. Maybe those areas are inhaling the remainders with their green seasons, I dunno?

But yes, that was also the major opinion on that thread link,

natural production of CO2 was above manmade, and that the Earth can get enough of the stuff.

[Ares]

Interesting graphs. Note the scale was set from 380 to 415 to achieve the blue to red scale, so don't let the colors fool you. It is merely a visual aid to see the relative lowest and highest concentrations, necessarily not the absolute levels.

Note how much it changes between summer and winter. To me that implies that man made contributions are less than natural contributions, because human activity doesn't change that drastically between summer and winter. Either that or plants are much better at absorbing it during winter, which doesn't make sense because most growth is during summer.

The most interesting thing is where the CO2 concentrations are highest. Not sure why Africa has a band of high concentration. China seems to have a pretty consistently high concentration.

Also keep in mind that if C02 levels are lower than 150ppm, plant life starts to die.

http://notrickszone.com/2013/05/17/atmospheric-co2-concentrations-at-400-ppm-are-still-dangerously-low-for-life-on-earth/

[Neuro]

The case being made that manmade CO2 influence on global heating is overestimated by a factor of 10, and that CO2 is a very good nutrient for plant life, is very good news for the future of this planet! As long as evil doesn't win and forces stifling CO2 taxes on us and actually manages to curb emissions. Barred that scenario we can look forward to a greener planet.

[Horn]

http://www.m4gw.com/images/GIFS/OCO-Animated.gif

On some of these you can see the Iceland vent.

[Neuro]

http://www.m4gw.com/images/GIFS/OCO-Animated.gif

On some of these you can see the Iceland vent.
Obviously Iceland should pay a very high carbon tax/capita. Also they have very little trees planted to offset the high emissions. Now if only the bankers could get behind and run the carbon emissions right trade, they would get back what the Icelandic people stole from them in 2008 in short order... ;)


;D

[mick silver]

neuro why are you ficking with my family homeland

[Horn]

They grow that stinkfish shark up there for consumption too.

Someone has to put a stop to that...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IpfSIzOTq8

[Neuro]

neuro why are you ficking with my family homeland
Tungur knivur...

[Dogman]

Tungur knivur...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l5N1XTTEps

http://gold-silver.us/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7880&stc=1

[Neuro]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l5N1XTTEps

http://gold-silver.us/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7880&stc=1
I'm impressed! It's the only line from the only Icelandic movie I've ever seen that I remember. It was probably about 33 years ago since I saw it, and you found it!

Google?

[Dogman]

I'm impressed! It's the only line from the only Icelandic movie I've ever seen that I remember. It was probably about 33 years ago since I saw it, and you found it!

Google?


Magic !

;D