Visualizing Carbon Pathways

Chlorophyll concentrations detected by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite, July 2011. Source: NASA NEO

Earth contains a fixed amount of carbon. Over time, all the carbon atoms in the Earth system move among reservoirs in rocks, oceans, the atmosphere, and living organisms as part of a geochemical cycle. However, between one and two billion metric tons of carbon per year are "missing" from the environment. In other words, scientists cannot account for 15 to 30 percent of the carbon that humans annually release into the atmosphere. This lack of understanding about what happens to carbon prevents scientists from developing accurate models.

Though we don't have a full understanding of how carbon moves through the Earth system, we have the ability to obtain satellite images that indicate carbon's presence. We can generate animations of these images to help us visualize the pathways that carbon follows. This EET Chapter will introduce you to visualization capabilities available through NASA's Earth Observatory, global map collection, NASA NEO and ImageJ. Using these tools, you'll build several animations of satellite data that illustrate carbon pathways through the Earth system. For instance, you'll build animations of fire images that indicate carbon is being released into the atmosphere. You'll also make animations of plant productivity images that indicate carbon is being removed from the atmosphere and locked into the biosphere.