A undated handout image shows methane emission hotspots associated with oil, gas and coal between January 2019 and May 2020. KAYRROS/Handout via REUTERS
But as satellite technology improves, researchers are starting to stress test the data - and the early results show leaky oil and gas industry infrastructure is responsible for far more of the methane in the atmosphere than previously thought. Methane is also 80 times more potent during its first 20 years in the atmosphere and scientists say that identifying methane sources is crucial to making the drastic emissions cuts needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
The push to detect emissions from the sky began when U.S. advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund and universities including Harvard used aerial measurements to show methane leaks from America’s oil and gas heartland were 60% above inventories reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In an October report, GHGSat estimated the leak released 142,000 tonnes of methane in the 12 months to the end of January 2019 and said then it was the biggest on record.
The Yamal-Europe pipeline stretches 2,000 km from Germany through Poland and Belarus to Russia where it joins the 2,200 km SRTO–Torzhok pipeline to Siberia’s gasfields. The scrutiny from space is set to intensify. GHGSat aims to launch two new satellites this year while the EDF advocacy group plans to launch its own satellite in 2022.
This is like the oil spill of air. We are going to kill ourselves.
Europe is amazingly clear!!
alikhedery I really wonder how much of this is leakage and how much is off-the-books flaring/venting. *Looks pointedly at Henry Hub spot prices*
So what do those areas lit up in Australia correspond to...?🤔
Or is it just politician's flatulence?
This year keeps on going
Didnt mentioned Pakistan in map?
Reminds me of those James Bond movies
scary af
... though satellites didn't appear to catch the 14 major ruptures that happened to pipelines from Canada to Mexico.
i bet it saw the white house first
I would think in Siberia they want the planet to warm