New Sensor Will Track Changes in Colorado's Atmospheric Carbon

A new sensor is now testing the air over the most populated part of Colorado to track regional changes in atmospheric carbon levels, according to news from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The instruments in place on a 1,000-foot-tall tower east of Erie in Colorado's Front Range will measure levels of both carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Sensors at the base will test air drawn in by tubes from three different elevations on the tower.

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas produced by both natural processes and the burning of fossil fuels. The presence of carbon monoxide, a by-product of fuel combustion, indicates the carbon dioxide in the same air came from human activity."Boulder and other cities are spending money to reduce their fossil fuel emissions," said Arlyn Andrews, a scientist with NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL). "They need accurate data to know what is working and what is not. With this new regional information, decision-makers will be able to see if their emissions reductions have an impact on the atmosphere."

The Colorado monitoring site is the fifth carbon tracking system established in the U.S. by NOAA. The agency eventually plans to set up a network of 12 such tower-based monitoring systems to better gauge how carbon levels in the atmosphere are changing. Other sensor stations are already in operation in Moody, Texas; West Branch, Iowa; Park Falls, Wisconsin; and Argyle, Maine. An additional seven are expected to go online over the next few years in Alabama, California, Illinois, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio and South Carolina.

Most of the sensors are located in rented space on television broadcast towers. However, the Colorado station operates on a NOAA-owned tower built to gather regional weather data.

ESRL will feed data from the carbon sensor network into its CarbonTracker, an online tool launched earlier this year. The purpose of CarbonTracker is to provide scientists and, eventually, decision-makers, businesses and the public with easy-to-use information on their area's atmospheric carbon levels.