Resource Monitoring from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory Missions

For more than ten years, NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) missions have been observing the health of our nation’s natural and agricultural resources in two ways: first, as planned, through the observation of atmospheric carbon dioxide; and second, unexpectedly, by observing a faint signal directly related to plant photosynthesis. Together, the two OCO retrievals—atmospheric CO2 and solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF)—substantially enhance the program’s scientific and operational worth. Continuous tracking of vegetation dynamics is critical for food security, ecosystem resilience, and economic stability, and it helps decision-makers anticipate and limit the impacts of wildfires, drought, and other extremes. Long-term, spatially resolved information on plant activity across diverse climates and management regimes is critical for sound resource stewardship. Photosynthesis—the planet’s primary biological engine—feeds most terrestrial life and removes about three gigatonnes of carbon from the atmosphere each year (Friedlingstein et al., 2025). The more precisely we can monitor its efficiency under human and climatic pressures, the better we can help guide adaptive crop, livestock, and forest management strategies. Despite these benefits, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory missions are amongst numerous NASA Earth Science missions proposed for termination in NASA’s FY2026 President’s Budget Request (https://www.nasa.gov/fy-2026-budget-request/). In the discussion that follows, we outline how OCO-2 and OCO-3 SIF data already support crop-yield forecasting, drought early warning, forest and rangeland management, and why keeping these satellites operational is essential for U.S. agriculture, national interests, and global food security.