Six years ago, scientists at Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a nonprofit organization, were measuring methane leaks from oil and gas sites across Texas. Everywhere they looked—using airplanes, drones, ground measurements, and even handheld devices—they found that gas was leaking at a much faster rate than the companies had revealed.
What if that was happening all over the world?
Their solution: build a satellite to track methane on a global scale, something scientists had not done before—only governments or private companies had done it.
“Everyone thought it was crazy,” said Steven Hamburg, chief scientist at the EDF, who led the project.
EDF assembled a team of about 70 scientists and engineers and raised about $88 million from philanthropic donors — a small budget given the scope of the project.
The satellite was launched into space on March 4 on a Space X carrier rocket.
He Methane, a colorless, odorless gas, is the main ingredient in natural gas, burned in power plants and factories around the world, as well as in homes. Gas is much cleaner to burn than coal, but it has a big problem: it is very prone to leaks. It leaks from oil and gas drilling sites. Escape from the pipes. Some operators simply release it into the air rather than investing in the infrastructure to capture it.
When methane escapes into the atmosphere, it acts like a heavy quilt in the sky, trapping heat from the Sun and warming the world. Scientists estimate that human-caused methane emissions are responsible for up to 30 percent of global warming.
Figuring out where methane emissions occur has been a challenge.
That’s where MethaneSAT comes in.
The satellite carries a spectrometer that uses light reflected from the Earth’s surface to estimate methane in part of the atmosphere. Several satellites monitor methane, but they scan broader areas at lower resolutions. MtaneSAT’s capabilities fall somewhere in between.
MethaneSAT aims to “see” between 80 and 90 percent of the global oil and gas production during 15 daily rotations around the Earth.
EDF will make MethaneSAT data freely available early next year, allowing oil and gas companies or environmental regulators to locate and repair leaks faster. Scientists also hope to understand who is responsible for the leaks.
The launch coincides with efforts around the world to better regulate methane. New European Union rules impose limits on methane emissions from oil and gas imports. At last year’s global climate talks, a coalition of 50 oil and gas companies pledged to reduce their emissions by 80 to 90 percent by the end of this decade.
“We welcome the fact because we share the same goal as EDF,” said Bjorn Otto Sverdrup, president of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, a group of 12 major oil and gas companies that has committed to reducing methane emissions. .
