yeah, yeah. I read more on AIRS, but haven't seen their CO2 maps, but there are some cool other types of maps like water vapor. First a quote:
"Even though AIRS has only been in operation since August of 2002, not long enough by far to address many of the climate questions, it is already becoming apparent that data coming from the AIRS system are of unprecedented accuracy. Although still under evaluation, the AIRS data appears to be better than the current "gold standard" ­ weather balloons. It is as if more than 300,000 greatly improved weather balloons were released every day all over the globe - even from uninhabited or totally inaccessible areas. For the first time we are forming a precise picture of the three-dimensional global distribution of water vapor ­ the primary green house gas. "
And:
"Electronic equipment does not last indefinitely in such an environment, and we expect AIRS to last only a few years. Its "design life" is about 6 years, and it may continue operating for a few years more than that, but there are no guarantees.

Since the ability to study climate change requires a long time series of top quality observations, it is very important to continue the task that the AIRS project has started, even after the AIRS instrument system eventually fails. NASA and its sister organizations recognize the importance of such "data continuity", and a series of satellites have been planned to provide that continuity."
http://www-airs.jpl.nasa.gov/features/climate_change/intro.html
Water vapor maps:
http://www-airs.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/products_suite/products_suite_moisture.html
"The Greenhouse Effect - It's Mostly About Water

A real greenhouse is made of glass, which lets visible sunlight through from the outside. This light gets absorbed by all the materials inside, and the warmed surfaces radiate infrared light, sometimes called "heat rays", back. But the glass, although transparent to visible light, acts as a partial barrier to the infrared light. So some of this infrared radiation, or heat, gets trapped inside. The result is that everything inside the greenhouse, including the air, becomes warmer. Similarly, light from the sun passes almost unhindered through Earth's atmosphere. It gets absorbed by the ocean and land surfaces, which warm and radiate infrared energy (heat!) back into the atmosphere. However, some atmospheric gases absorb these heat rays and trap the energy inside the atmosphere. The net result is warming. The most prominent green house gas is water vapor. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is also very important, and there are a number of minor green house gases as well. AIRS is the first satellite to measure the three-dimensional global distribution of atmospheric water vapor and carbon dioxide from space."