New Carbon-Dioxide Tracking Developed - AP

[Eugene]

New Carbon-Dioxide Tracking Developed

By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
The Associated Press
Wednesday, March 21, 2007; 4:21 PM

WASHINGTON -- With concern growing about global warming, researchers said
Wednesday they have developed a new system to track carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere. Being able to determine where and when this major greenhouse
gas increases or decreases should help in projecting future climate change
and evaluating efforts to reduce releases of carbon. "This is a pretty exciting
opportunity," said Richard Spinrad, head of research at the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration.

It produces an unbiased, objective statement of carbon observations, he said,
but doesn't favor any particular policy or economic model.

Tracking carbon dioxide release and absorption will improve understanding of
its impact, he said, noting that one-third of the economy is weather and
climate sensitive ranging from agriculture to transportation to insurance and
real estate.

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Tans said the new system, called CarbonTracker, currently samples the air
at 20 places in the United States and 60 worldwide, with a goal of expanding
that to "hundreds, maybe thousands" of sampling points.

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Full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/21/AR2007032101233.html