Scientists Map 15 Years of Carbon Dioxide Emissions on Earth with New Data

Carbon dioxide levels continue to rise in our atmosphere. Yet curbing this tide of emissions is difficult when you don't know how much gas is being released. That's why researchers have tracked and estimated CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels over 15 years.

The new initiative is called the Fossil Fuel Data Assimilation System (FFDAS). It quantifies CO2 emissions every hour for the entire planet down to the city scale over a total of 15 years. In order to accomplish this feat, the researchers used information from satellite feeds, national fuel accounts and a new global database on power plants.

"With this system, we are taking a big step toward creating a global monitoring system for greenhouse gases, something that is needed as the world considers how best to meet greenhouse gas reductions," said Kevin Robert Gurney, lead investigator of the new system, in a news release. "Now we can provide all countries with detailed information about their CO2 emissions and show that independent, scientific monitoring of greenhouse gases is possible."

The result is a series of high-resolution planetary maps that show the release of carbon dioxide over the world. In fact, the FFDAS shows surprising detail on global emissions, which reveal a dramatic rise of CO2 emissions in China and South Asia.

"The accuracy of the FFDAS results is confirmed by independent, ground-based data in the United States," said Salvi Asefi-Najafabady, lead author of the new report. "This makes us confident that the system is working well and can provide useable, policy-salient information."

The findings could certainly help policy makers make better decisions in the future when it comes to curbing CO2 emissions. By being able to see where and when rises of CO2 are occurring, it's possible to take counter measures.

"It used to take years to assemble all the statistics on CO2 emissions," said Peter Rayner, lead investigator. "With this system, once the satellite data is flowing we can update our emissions maps each year. It gives a quick check on efforts to limit climate change."