Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2OCO-2
These are NASA's most prestigious honor awards, approved by the Administrator and presented to individuals and groups who have distinguished themselves by making outstanding contributions to the Agency's mission.
Recipients:
Chris O’Dell: Exceptional Technical Achievement Award, for exceptional technology achievement in algorithm development for NASA’s gas remote sensing missions.
Josh Laughner: Exceptional Public Achievement Award, for exceptional achievement in algorithm development for ground-based and satellite atmospheric remote sensing, enabling high quality results across multiple NASA missions.
Gary Spiers: Exceptional Public Achievement Award, for exceptional service in OCO-3 development and ISS operations, resulting in a highly successful mission providing foundational gas measurements.
OCO-3 In-flight Storage and Reinstallation Team: Group Achievement Award, for group achievement in in-flight storage, re-installation, and completion of instrument checkout activities, resulting in OCO-3’s successful mission.
Team members:
In a commentary article in Geophysical Research Letters, Parazoo and Fuchs [2025] point out the value of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) data in capturing rapid changes in ecological drought. The study highlights the potential use of space-borne SIF, such as from OCO-2 and OCO-3, for early detection of emerging crop stress conditions. Access to this type of information, if provided directly to agricultural producers and other resource managers, can be crucial for land management efforts and for ensuring global food security.
Read the article: Solar Induced Fluorescence as an Application Ready Early Warning Indicator of Flash Drought
Anomaly maps of terrestrial biosphere carbon fluxes for three distinct large-scale climatic phenomena. Image credit: Singha Roy et al. [2025], Nature Communications Earth and Environment
In a new study in Nature Communications Earth and Environment, Singha Roy et al. [2025] uses the atmospheric carbon dioxide column observations from OCO-2 to unravel the response of the Indian land biosphere to global climatic phenomena such as El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Indian Ocean Dipole. The study involved a whole host of OCO Science Team members and finds that over the Indian subcontinent, large GPP variations, as compared to total ecosystem respiration, determine the response of carbon fluxes to climatic phenomena.
Anomaly maps of terrestrial biosphere carbon fluxes for three distinct large-scale climatic phenomena. Image credit: Singha Roy et al. [2025], Nature Communications Earth and Environment
Atmospheric CO2 growth rate is a fundamental metric that links changes in radiative forcing to the broader climate system. OCO-2–based CO2 growth rate has been incorporated into the Global Carbon Project (GCP), see Friedlingstein et al. [2025], for the first time in the 2025 assessment. The inclusion of the OCO-2–based decadal CO2 growth rate in the GCP assessment, which is widely used by global policy makers and the scientific community, underscores both the stability and accuracy of the OCO-2 CO2 retrievals and the growing value of its long observational record.
Monitoring the Pulse of America's Natural Resources
In a perspective article in AGU Advances, Svoboda et al. [2025] point out the enormous societal value of the OCO-2 and OCO-3 SIF measurements as a tool in studying plants. The article highlights uses of data from the OCO missions in agricultural applications, including crop yield prediction, as well as drought forecasting and forest management. The article was also chosen for an Editor's Highlight.
Read the article: Monitoring the Pulse of America's Natural Resources From the Orbiting Carbon Observatory Missions
Read the Editor's Highlight: Serendipity in Space: NASA’s Eye in the Sky
Solar-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence (SIF) provides a unique remote sensing approach for measuring photosynthetic activity, offering real-time insights into vegetation stress and productivity that complement traditional indices (e.g. Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)). This three-part training, offered by the NASA Applied Remote Sensing Training (ARSET) Program, discusses the use of a remote sensing measure of photosynthesis to study the impact of extreme weather on cropland and ecosystems.
Time: 12:00-2:00 EDT (1600-1800 UTC)
Register Today: Solar Induced Fluorescence (SIF) Observations for Assessing Vegetation Changes Related to Floods, Drought, and Fire Impacts
Note: Those who attend all parts live and complete the required homework by the deadline will receive a certificate of completion for the training.
A woman carries water at the foot of Dent de Man Mountain in Côte d’Ivoire. Credit: FBilula, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
A new study by Yun and co-authors uses OCO-2 data to examine the African carbon cycle in unprecedented detail. Scientists previously suspected that temperature was the prime factor influencing plant growth and therefore carbon dioxide emissions. Instead, these researchers found that in Africa, moisture levels have a much bigger impact.
Read the article: Interannual Variability in African Regional Ecosystem Carbon Fluxes and their Drivers Revealed by Satellite Observations
See also this high level perspective: Satellite data reveal African grasslands’ carbon uptake rises with rainfall, unlike forests and savannas
A recent article published in the journal of Earth and Space Science provides a comprehensive evaluation of the latest version of the OCO-2 total column CO2 retrievals against data collected from a global ground-based network known as the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON). Detailed evaluations indicate that the bias-corrected and quality-filtered XCO2 estimates from OCO-2 compare extremely well with TCCON, with absolute average biases less than or equal to 0.20 parts per million (ppm) globally and data accuracy and precision <0.8 ppm.
Read the article: Comparisons of the v11.1 Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) XCO2 Measurements With GGG2020 TCCON
Location of TCCON stations and OCO-2 Targets for validation
Figure shows the predicted amount of time that elapses between observations with the OCO-2 and OCO-3 instruments. The white points indicate the cities routinely targeted by OCO-3 SAM mode while their size represents the number of unconstrained emissions released between observations.
In recent years, spaceborne CO2 observations from the OCO-2 and OCO-3 missions have been successfully ingested into local, regional, and national carbon accounting methodologies. However, all spaceborne observations are influenced by physical and environmental factors such as clouds and aerosols that affect their coverage. A new study by Roten et al. ( Coverage-Limiting Factors Affecting the Monitoring of Urban Emissions With the Orbiting Carbon Observatory Missions ) investigated these factors and determined that the time needed to constrain emissions varies among cities within the United States.
The OCO-2 project is now producing new daily bias-corrected Level 2 forward stream XCO2 and SIF data products. These data products were developed for users who would like to use OCO-2 data within a week of the observations being taken. Daily bias corrected forward stream products are also available for OCO-3. Note that the Lite XCO2 and Lite SIF products, produced from the retrospective stream on a monthly cadence, remain as our reference records. The bias corrected forward stream XCO2 and SIF products are now available at the GES DISC.
Learn more about daily OCO-2 bias corrected forward stream products:
A recent article published in Journal of Remote Sensing investigates the vegetation response of drought in the Yangtze River Basin using high-resolution hourly SIF data that is generated by combining SIF retrievals from OCO-2 and OCO-3. This high-resolution SIF data may reveal the critical adaptive responses of vegetation across different biomes, providing key insights into ecosystem resilience amid climatic variability.
Read the article: Response of Vegetation Photosynthesis to the 2022 Drought in Yangtze River Basin by Diurnal Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2/3 Satellite Observations
View from the ground at Railroad Valley, NV. Image credit: JPL
The JPL Vicarious Calibration team are out on the playa at Railroad Valley, Nevada, this week. The team are making a range of measurements on the ground to inform ongoing analyses of the quality and stability of the calibration of the OCO-2 and OCO-3 missions.
Image credit: Kathryn McKain, NOAA
Quantifying CO2 flux estimates from satellites like OCO-2 is important for better understanding the carbon cycle. A new study by Yun et al. demonstrates the value of bringing in aircraft measurements for quantifying and reducing errors in regional surface CO2 flux estimates. This study underscores the value of combining information from multiple platforms, like satellites, surface-based and airborne.
Image by the LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response team.
Early detection and monitoring of emerging agricultural drought conditions are crucial for ensuring global food security. A recent study over India highlights the utility of spaceborne measurements of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence from OCO-2 in deriving early indicators of agricultural drought. Longer lead times for drought prediction can aid in global agricultural management and mitigation strategies.
Read the article: Solar-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence Yield Holds the Potential for Drought Early Warning
Global biogeochemical models and OCO-2-based flux inversions show a record low global net land sink in 2023. A new study by Ke et al. indicates that record temperatures in 2023 had a strong negative impact on the capacity of terrestrial ecosystems to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Read the article: Low latency carbon budget analysis reveals a large decline of the land carbon sink in 2023 >
See also:
News coverage of this article: Trees and land absorbed almost no CO2 last year. Is nature’s carbon sink failing?
OCO-2 has just completed a “defrost”. Image of frost on a window from Ron Rochester (courtesy of Wikipedia).
OCO-2 has successfully completed its 21st decontamination cycle and has returned to taking science observations. Decontamination cycles are performed periodically throughout the mission to remove ice that accumulates on the focal plane array. Ice accumulation has slowed over time as the outgassing of water vapor from the spacecraft has diminished over the mission lifetime. The two year gap between this latest cycle (10th to 17th February 2025) and the previous one (13th to 20th February 2023) is the longest time between decontamination cycles in the mission so far.
Credit: Greg Goebel.
How well can current sensors detect emissions from small point sources? A new study looks at the detection limit of OCO-2 Targets and OCO-3 SAMs for quantifying emissions from coal power plants, a Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) facility and oil sands extraction and processing facilities.
Read the article: Quantifying CO2 Emissions From Smaller Anthropogenic Point Sources Using OCO-2 Target and OCO-3 Snapshot Area Mapping Mode Observations >
Wikimedia Commons
A recent article published in Nature shows how photosynthesis is sensitive to how rainfall is delivered to the surface in terms of daily frequency and intensity, independent of total rainfall amounts.
Read the article: Large global-scale vegetation sensitivity to daily rainfall variability >
For the press release on this work, see the article: NASA study shows crops, forests responding to changing rainfall patterns >
Some people ride bikes, buses, or trains to work. That can mean fewer cars on the road, and that can lead to less carbon dioxide emissions, the main gas driving climate change and the warming of our planet. The big question is, how much do emissions actually fall when we make these efforts? It's tough to calculate. We need detailed road and fuel data that most cities don't have. So NASA is working on another way to do it -- from space, with the help of OCO-2 and OCO-3.
August 6th marked the 10th anniversary of OCO-2's 'first light' spectra!
“FIRST LIGHT” SPECTRA FROM OCO-2
This figure shows a single 0.333 second “frame” from orbit 506, recorded on the morning of August 6, 2014.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
July 2, 2024 marks the tenth anniversary of the launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2.
On July 11th JPL celebrated the 10th Anniversary of OCO-2:
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Huge congratulations and thanks to all who have made it possible to reach this milestone!
In La Niña years, levels of the CO2 usually don’t rise as much as they otherwise would. But in 2021, La Niña’s carbon storage effects were different. Research published in Science Advances suggests that this particular event made little overall difference to the growth in atmospheric CO2 concentrations, probably due to the drought and warmer weather that occurred in Asia that year. If this benefit from La Niña falters in future years, it could have serious implications for climate change. See the feature article on this OCO-2-based study >
Image by Manfred Richter from Pixabay
A recent study by Kira and co-authors used OCO-2 solar induced fluorescence (SIF) measurements as a key input to a framework to estimate crop yields. This study points to the value of the small OCO-2 footprints in allowing crop-specific SIF information. The results show the promise of satellite SIF measurements to enable developing countries to develop more effective responses to food crises, agricultural policies, and more efficient commodity pricing.
See the study: A scalable crop yield estimation framework based on remote sensing of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF)
Since 1993, NASA has relied on Railroad Valley (RRV), a dry lakebed in Nevada, for conducting ground-based calibration of Earth-observing satellite instruments. Image credit: USGS
The JPL OCO-2 Vicarious Calibration team have just returned from a successful summer campaign in Railroad Valley, NV! The Railroad Valley playa is a dry lakebed with land characteristics uniquely suited for calibrating NASA’s Earth-observing satellites. The OCO-2 team were joined out on the playa by JPL colleagues from the MISR team and by Japanese colleagues from the GOSAT and GOSAT-2 teams, continuing a strong tradition of international collaboration between the OCO and GOSAT missions. The campaign was blessed with clear skies this year, and the teams were able to collect a range of valuable measurements that will inform ongoing analyses of the quality and stability of the calibration of these missions.
NASA’s Applied Remote Sensing Training Program (ARSET) has opened a new open, online webinar series: Applications of Carbon Dioxide Measurements for Climate-Related Studies. This intermediate, three-part webinar series will build on the previous CO2 training from 2022, providing a more in-depth review of OCO-2 and OCO-3 measurements along with demonstrations of case-studies.
Registration is now open! If you would like to join us or pass along to colleagues who will find it useful, please do so.
A new study by Parazoo and co-authors "Antecedent Conditions Mitigate Carbon Loss During Flash Drought Events" has used SIF measurements from OCO-2 together with SMAP measurements of soil moisture to detect signs of flash droughts up to three months before onset. In the future, such advance notice could aid mitigation efforts.
For the press release on this work, see the article: How "Glowing" Plants Could Help Scientists Predict Flash Drought
Observing CO2 from space: A Decade of progress from NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatories (OCO-2 and OCO-3)
Submission deadline: Extended to 30th June 2026
Advancing quantification of sources and sinks and understanding of carbon cycle science demand collaborative efforts spanning a range of communities. In celebration of the impending 10-year milestone of OCO-2 and the 5-year anniversary of OCO-3 in 2024, we extend an invitation to scholars across these communities to submit articles on the following topics:
This Special Issue aims to not only revisit past advancements and the wisdoms but also to serve as a platform for the dissemination of the latest breakthroughs. Every type of paper is welcome, but each of them must be linked to OCO-2/3.
Submission Guidelines/Instructions
To submit your manuscript, use the standard submission portal of AGU Advances, Earth's Future, Earth and Space Science, Geophysical Research Letters, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, JAMES, JGR-Atmospheres, JGR-Biogeosciences, JGR-Oceans, Reviews of Geophysics, and select the collection’s title from the drop down menu in the Special Section field of the submission form.
The OCO-2 Level 2 processing will undergo an important change, starting Monday April 1st. We will be switching to an updated input data stream for the meteorological fields (prior information on surface pressure, temperature, water vapor, aerosols). These fields are provided by the NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO). The switch will be from the GEOS-FPIT data stream to the GEOS-IT data stream.
For more information on these GEOS data streams and the transition between them, please refer to this link: Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) for Instrument Teams.
NASA has announced selections from the latest round of OCO-2/3 Science Team ROSES proposals.
Congratulations to our new and returning Science Team members!
For more details, on the selections please see: A.31 Science Team for the OCO missions.
