Abstract |
The global carbon cycle - the natural exchange of carbon between land, atmosphere
and ocean reservoirs - modulated the impact of anthropogenic emissions on the
climate system. Understanding the feedbacks between anthropogenic emissions and the
natural cycle had been a grand scientific a challenge for decades and one that has
always been hampered by the sparsity of observations. Over the last decade,
space-based observations have transformed carbon science, although the full impact
is still being realized. Today, space-based measurements provide a benchmark for
the measurement of carbon storage in biomass, land photosynthesis and carbon dioxide
itself. I will review scientific findings from these three key observations, and
discuss the opportunities they provide going forward.
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