NASA to host carbon dioxide seminar

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency is planning a seminar that will focus on the current state of knowledge of how Earth influences levels of carbon dioxide.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the Friday seminar, to start at 11 a.m. EST, will be held at NASA's headquarters in Washington.

"The Earth plays an important but complex role in how much carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere," NASA said in a statement. "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," the space agency said.

Seminar participants will be Scott Denning, a carbon cycle scientist at Colorado State University; Anna Michalak, a carbon cycle scientist from the University of Michigan, and William Emanuel, a program manager at NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

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