Methane plumes around the world mapped by NASA's EMIT

Results

Methane is a gas that traps heat in the atmosphere much more effectively than carbon dioxide, which is the most abundant greenhouse gas. Methane stays in the air for about 10 years, but in that time, it can warm the planet up to 80 times more than carbon dioxide, which lasts for hundreds of years. Methane is produced by various human activities, such as landfills, agriculture, oil and gas extraction, and other industries. By locating the sources of methane emissions, EMIT can help the operators of these activities to reduce their environmental impact and limit climate change.

Surprising Results EMIT has shown that it can spot emission sources of different sizes, from tens of thousands of pounds of methane per hour to hundreds of pounds of methane per hour. This is important because it allows the detection of more “super-emitters”, which are sources that emit a lot more methane than others.

The new study compares EMIT’s data with the data collected by airborne instruments, which fly over specific areas to measure methane. The study finds that EMIT can capture 60% to 85% of the methane plumes that are typically seen by airborne instruments.

Airborne instruments are more sensitive than EMIT, but they are also more expensive and limited. They need to have some prior information that there is methane in the area, and they cannot cover all the regions of the world, especially those that are too far, too dangerous, or too costly. They also only collect data for short periods.

EMIT, on the other hand, has a broader view of the planet from its position on the space station, which is about 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the ground. EMIT scans the arid regions that lie between 51.6 degrees north and south latitude, which are the most likely to produce dust and methane. The instrument takes images of the surface that are 50 miles by 50 miles (80 kilometers by 80 kilometers) in size, which are called “scenes”. EMIT can see many regions that have never been observed by airborne instruments.

“The number and scale of methane plumes measured by EMIT around our planet is stunning,” said Robert O. Green, a JPL senior research scientist and EMIT’s principal investigator.

The EMIT science team creates maps of methane plumes to locate the sources of methane emissions. These maps are available on a website that can be accessed by anyone. Additionally, the data can be found at the joint NASA-United States Geological Survey Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC), which is a repository of Earth science data.

Since EMIT started collecting data in August 2022, it has recorded over 50,000 scenes. The instrument has found a group of emissions sources in a region of southern Uzbekistan that has rarely been studied, on Sept. 1, 2022. EMIT detected 12 methane plumes that added up to about 49,734 pounds (22,559 kilograms) of methane per hour.