Paper Reviewed
Parker, A. and Ollier, C.D. 2015. Carbon dioxide flux measurements based on satellite observations differ considerably from the consensus values. Energy & Environment 26: 457-463.

Introducing their study of this intriguing subject, Parker and Ollier (2015) write that the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) "provides the first measured CO2 flux data that can be used to determine if a region is sequestering or emitting CO2." And they further note that "GOSAT measurements have been the subject of more than 140 scientific papers published in the peer-reviewed press," and that "in none of them has the reliability of the measurements been questioned."

Getting right to the crux of the matter, therefore, the two researchers say there has been "no explicit report of the most important inference about whether carbon dioxide is emitted or sequestered." And they thus become the first to do so, reporting that "the top net emitting continent is Asia, followed by Africa and Europe," that "North America is also emitting significantly, while South America is net sequestering and Antarctica has a net flux close to zero." Most notable of all, however, was their own continent of Australia, which they found to be "the top sequestering continent."

In concluding, Parker and Ollier write that "while the per capita GDP [Gross Domestic Product] is often used as an indicator of a country's material standard of living, it does not necessarily follow that rich countries produce the most carbon dioxide," which fact could well prove a knotty problem for climate alarmists who are doing all they possibly can to get the nations of the Earth to come to a global agreement as to how to proceed to make the entire world a CO2-sequestering planet.