Colorado State University Professor to Speak at NASA Seminar on Earth’s Role in Our Carbon Dioxide Future

Note to Editors: The seminar will be broadcast live on the Web at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

Colorado State University Professor Scott Denning will speak on a NASA panel in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Nov. 14 about the global carbon cycle.

NASA will host the seminar at 9 a.m. MST to discuss the current state of knowledge about how the "breathing" Earth influences current and future levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The seminar will take place in NASA Headquarters’ James E. Webb Auditorium, 300 E St., S.W., Washington. It will be carried live on NASA Television and on the Web at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv.

The Earth plays an important but complex role in how much carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere. While the amount of carbon dioxide produced by fossil-fuel burning and other human activities continues to grow worldwide, a significant amount of the greenhouse gas is absorbed by the ocean and plants on land. Scientists are actively trying to pinpoint where, when and how Earth removes carbon from the air in order to better forecast future levels of the gas that is a major contributor to global warming. Better understanding Earth’s "carbon cycle" is a key element of NASA’s Earth science program.

In addition to Denning, who is a carbon cycle scientist in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State, seminar participants include:

– Anna M. Michalak, carbon cycle scientist, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

– William Emanuel, program manager, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington

For more information on NASA’s Earth science program, visit: http://nasascience.nasa.gov/earth-science/.

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