Earth Sky Stars » greenhouse gases http://earthskystars.net/blog blog for earthskystars Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:35:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 A Major Setback in Global Warming Science – OCO Launch Fails http://earthskystars.net/blog/2009/03/01/a-major-setback-in-global-warming-science-oco-launch-fails/ http://earthskystars.net/blog/2009/03/01/a-major-setback-in-global-warming-science-oco-launch-fails/#comments Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:45:00 +0000 Bill Clugston http://earthskystars.net/blog/?p=145 Bad news, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) failed to reach orbit last Tuesday. Apparently, a protective fairing failed to separate from the spacecraft and prevented the OCO from reaching orbit. The OCO would have allowed scientists to “fine tune” their climate models by finding carbon sources and sinks that are not currently understood. A big loss for our understanding of the Earth’s climate.

]]> http://earthskystars.net/blog/2009/03/01/a-major-setback-in-global-warming-science-oco-launch-fails/feed/ 0 Collaboration between Google and Purdue University produces a new view of CO2 … http://earthskystars.net/blog/2009/03/01/collaboration-between-google-and-purdue-university-give-us-a-new-view-of-co2/ http://earthskystars.net/blog/2009/03/01/collaboration-between-google-and-purdue-university-give-us-a-new-view-of-co2/#comments Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:06:49 +0000 Bill Clugston http://earthskystars.net/blog/?p=138 A collabration between Google and Purdue University gives us a new tool to help control global climate change. Purdue, in association with DOE and NASA, developed a database of CO2 sources named Project Vulcan. Google, with its experience developing Google Maps and Google Earth, used its talents to plot Project Vulcan’s data onto an interactive map. The CO2 emissions map can be found at http://www.purdue.edu/eas/carbon/vulcan/GEarth/index.html.

]]> http://earthskystars.net/blog/2009/03/01/collaboration-between-google-and-purdue-university-give-us-a-new-view-of-co2/feed/ 0 Global Energy Balance Explained http://earthskystars.net/blog/2009/02/16/global-energy-balance-explained/ http://earthskystars.net/blog/2009/02/16/global-energy-balance-explained/#comments Tue, 17 Feb 2009 05:51:44 +0000 Bill Clugston http://earthskystars.net/blog/?p=132 NASA’s Earth Observatory site has great article on how the Earth’s energy balance works. This topic is central to understanding global climate change, so if you really want to understand global warming, read this article. Without the blanket of air that surrounds us this planet this would be a very cold place to live. Interestingly, even with an atmosphere, without carbon dioxide it would still be a cold planet ( around 10 to 0 degrees average). A little carbon dioxide is a good thing, too much and you have a planet like Venus with an 800 degree surface temperature!

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