According to the China Meteorological Administration, China is set to launch its first satellite to monitor the distribution of carbon dioxide around the globe.

The satellite, to be launched in late December, will offer a means of measuring carbon dioxide on a global scale, and improving people’s knowledge about global carbon cycles. It will also provide reliable and stable predictions about climate change.

The satellite’s launch will not only prove China’s progress in greenhouse gas monitoring, it will also lift China's international discourse.

An employee from the Chinese Academy of Sciences explained that atmospheric carbon dioxide molecules can present characteristics of spectrum absorption for solar radiation, and the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will be inverted after the satellite measures spectral absorption lines.

The satellite will conduct an overall examination of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere every 16 days. Data from that analysis will be transmitted to the ground station, and an examination report on carbon dioxide emissions in different seasons and regions will then be produced.