Images of CO2 emissions and transport from the Vulcan project

Project Vulcan, Arizona State University School of Life Sciences

In this visualization, students can explore North American fossil fuel CO2 emissions at very fine resolutions of both space and time. The data is provided by the Vulcan emissions data project, a NASA/DOE funded effort under the North American Carbon Program.

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Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

The images would work well with any climate or carbon cycle unit or lesson. Make sure to use Vulcan 3.0, which was published in 2019 and focuses on data from 2010-2015. While it doesn't use the most recent data available, it provides a valuable snapshot and an interesting visualization. Consider comparing Vulcan 3.0 to 2.2 to see how carbon emissions changed over more than a decade.
The project aims to aid in quantification of the North American carbon budget. These datasets and maps show CO2 emitted by location, in very fine detail. The detail and scope of the Vulcan CO2 inventory has made it a valuable tool for policymakers, demographers, social scientists, and the public. Comment from expert scientist: The review is for Images related to different sources of carbon dioxide in the US based on 2010-2015 inventories. The information provided by the images are useful for those interested to get a snapshot of the source strengths in different areas in the US although one has to be careful with different units used in the different maps.