Measurement of Carbon Dioxide Column via Space Borne Laser Absorption

In order to better understand the budget of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere it is necessary to develop a global high precision understanding of the carbon dioxide column. In order to uncover the 'missing s ink that is responsible for the large discrepancies in the budget as we presently understand it calculation has indicated that measurement accuracy on the order of 1 ppm is necessary. Because typical column average C02 has now reached 380 ppm this represents a precision on the order of .25% for these column measurements. No species has ever been measured from space at such a precision. In recognition of the importance of understanding the C02 budget in order to evaluate its impact on global warming the National Research Council in its decadal survey report to NASA recommended planning for a laser based total C02 mapping mission in the near future.