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A new video from Nasa shows how plumes of carbon dioxide (CO2) shift and swirl around the planet.
An ultra-high-resolution model developed by the Goddard Space Flight Centre using GEOS-5 software shows how the gas is driven by the Earth's weather systems.
The majority of the world's CO2 is emitted by industrialised or rapidly industrialising countries in the Northern Hemisphere - in Europe, Asia and North America.
As Nasa scientist Bill Putman notes, the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere decrease in the spring and summer of the North as plants absorb the greenhouse gas - signalled by a significant changing of the colours on the map.
In the Southern Hemisphere, Putman points out that more carbon monoxide (CO) is released from large forest fires in Africa and Australia, leading to high levels of the harmful gas in the atmosphere.
Each year higher concentrations of greenhouse gases are being recorded, adding to the long-term trend of rising global temperatures.
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