NASA’s EMIT Mission Detects More Than 50 Methane “Super-Emitters” From Space
upstart writes:
NASA's EMIT Mission Detects More Than 50 Methane Super-Emitters" From Space:
EMIT (Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation) was built to help scientists understand how dust affects climate. It can also pinpoint emissions of the potent greenhouse gas.
[...] EMIT was installed on the International Space Station (ISS) in July. In the data it has collected since, the science team has identified more than 50 super-emitters" in Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Southwestern United States. Super-emitters are facilities, equipment, and other infrastructure that emit methane at exceptionally high rates. They are typically in the fossil fuel, waste, or agriculture sectors.
Reining in methane emissions is key to limiting global warming. This exciting new development will not only help researchers better pinpoint where methane leaks are coming from, but also provide insight on how they can be addressed - quickly," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The International Space Station and NASA's more than two dozen satellites and instruments in space have long been invaluable in determining changes to the Earth's climate. EMIT is proving to be a critical tool in our toolbox to measure this potent greenhouse gas - and stop it at the source."
[...] China, the United States, Russia, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Mexico are estimated to be responsible for nearly half of all anthropogenic methane emissions. The major methane emission sources for these countries vary greatly. For example, a key source of methane emissions in China is coal production, whereas Russia emits most of its methane from natural gas and oil systems. The largest sources of methane emissions from human activities in the United States are oil and gas systems, livestock enteric fermentation, and landfills.
Real-time space observations can now keep watch over 'super emitter' power plants
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
In late 2025 or 2026, the EU plans to launch its "CO2M" (Copernicus Anthropogenic CO2 Monitoring Mission) pair of satellites, whose job will be to help with this.
But now, scientists have shown that such tracking at the source is already possible, even with existing satellites, for "super-emitters" like the Bechatow power plant in Poland. For this proof-of-principle, they used five years of measurements from NASA's satellite "Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2" (OCO-2; launched in 2014) and the instrument OCO-3, attached since 2019 to the International Space Station (ISS).
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