NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) mission was motivated by the need to diagnose how the increasing concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is altering the productivity of the biosphere and the uptake of CO2 by the oceans. Launched on 2 July 2014, OCO-2 provides retrievals of the column-averaged CO2 dry-air mole fraction (
) as well as the fluorescence from chlorophyll in terrestrial plants. The seasonal pattern of uptake by the terrestrial biosphere is recorded in fluorescence and the drawdown of 
during summer. Launched just before one of the most intense El Niños of the past century, OCO-2 measurements of 
and fluorescence record the impact of the large change in ocean temperature and rainfall on uptake and release of CO2 by the oceans and biosphere.
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory‐2 early science investigations of regional carbon dioxide fluxes
Eldering, A., P. Wennberg, D. Crisp, D. Schimel, M. Gunson, A. Chatterjee, and J. Liu (2017), The Orbiting Carbon Observatory‐2 early science investigations of regional carbon dioxide fluxes, Science, 358, eaam5745.
Abstract
Mission
Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2)
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