I wrote this poem in July 2025. It is about a question behind my work on CO2 growth rates: how the long, careful record from surface stations compares with the fast, global view from satellites.
In a quiet town, a CO2 did reside,Dreaming of adventures and the world outside.She yearned to see Hawaii’s distant shore, 🏝️Where Mr. In Situ awaited—perfect to his core.
Determined and eager, she caught a train, 🚆Hoping the journey wouldn’t be in vain.But fate had plans she didn’t foresee;She boarded the wrong one, not where wished to be.
In the stratosphere, time moved slow,Trains were scarce, with nowhere to go.She waited and pondered under the sky so blue,Until she met OCO—fast and new. 🚀
OCO was swift, full of energy and light, ⚡Circling the Earth in a swift flight. 🌎“I’ll meet you daily,” he’d often declare,But clouds and rain would keep him elsewhere. ☁️🌧️
Sometimes he’d vanish for weeks on end,Leaving CO2 without her friend.Yet slowly he improved, braving the rain, ☔Making efforts not to disappear again.
After two long years, a train arrived at last, 🚆CO2 hopped aboard, leaving the past.She reached Hawaii’s shores so grand,And met Mr. In Situ upon the sand. 🏖️
He came from royalty, a noble line,His family’s legacy stood the test of time. ⌛Accurate and steady, a reliable guide, 📏CO2 admired him, standing by his side.
Now she faces a choice that’s tough and true:Fast-paced OCO 🚀 or Mr. In Situ? 🏖️
The science behind the poem
Mr. In Situ stands for surface measurements such as the record at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, which Charles David Keeling started in 1958. OCO is NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2, which measures CO2 around the globe but cannot see through clouds. The slow trains of the stratosphere stand for how long air can stay up there before it comes back down.
For the science, see Pandey et al. (2024), AGU Advances, which compares the sampling errors of satellite and in situ approaches. More on this work is in Research.