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Daily News Analysis » Private: March 2024 » METHANESAT: A satellite to find the worst methane emitters on Earth : 6 Mar 2024

METHANESAT: A satellite to find the worst methane emitters on Earth : 6 Mar 2024

Methane is the second largest contributor to global warming, after carbon dioxide. MethaneSAT will identify how much methane is coming from where, who’s responsible, and are those emissions going up or down over time.

Table of Content

Key Points:

  • About: MethaneSAT aims to identify and quantify global methane emissions, pinpointing sources and trends over time to aid in reducing emissions.
  • Developed by: The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) developed MethaneSAT in collaboration with Harvard University, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and the New Zealand Space Agency.
  • Functionality: Orbiting Earth 15 times daily, MethaneSAT will monitor the oil and gas sector, providing data on methane emissions, sources, and trends.
  • Data Accessibility: Data will be public and free, enabling actions to reduce emissions.
  • Features: MethaneSAT offers high-resolution data over large areas, detecting even small emission sources with a spectrometer and infrared sensor. It can distinguish methane concentration changes as small as three parts per billion.
  • The advantage over Predecessors: Unlike previous satellites, MethaneSAT can scan wide areas (200 km²) and identify “super emitters,” filling critical data gaps.

About Methane:

  • Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, contributing to 30% of global warming since the Industrial Revolution.
  • It’s 80 times more potent than CO2 over 20 years. Cutting methane emissions, particularly from fossil fuel operations (40% of human-caused emissions), is crucial for climate goals.