MethaneSAT: the satellite detecting methane emissions

Background

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide during its first 20 years after it is released to the atmosphere. Methane from human activities is causing at least a quarter of the warming our planet is experiencing today.

MethaneSAT is designed to locate and measure methane from human sources worldwide, giving both companies and governments new ability to track, quantify, and reduce those emissions — and supplying the public with data to see that the job is being done.

One of the largest sources of these emissions today is the oil and gas industry. Cutting oil and gas methane emissions is the single fastest, most impactful thing we can do to slow the rate of warming today, even as we work to decarbonize our energy system. For example, reducing oil and gas methane emissions 45 percent by 2025 would deliver the same 20-year benefit to the climate as immediately closing 1,300 coal-fired power plants.

An audacious project

MethaneSAT has its roots in pioneering aircraft campaigns that helped to reveal the extent of pollution from US oil and gas fields roughly a decade ago. EDF subsequently worked with academics and those in industry on a series of studies that helped to document emissions across the United States, eventually showing that methane emissions from the oil and gas sector were 60% higher than official estimates2. On the basis of that work, the group then organized a team to design the satellite.

Oil extraction operations release natural gas, which is predominantly made of methane and is typically burnt off. Credit: Jim West/Alamy

In 2018, EDF and its main scientific partners at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, were awarded start-up money through the Audacious Project, a partnership involving the New York non-profit group TED, to develop MethaneSAT. If it succeeds, EDF will be the first environmental group to develop a satellite of such scientific calibre.

What sets MethaneSAT apart is its resolution. Commercial satellites already circling Earth can track major methane sources such as leaking wells and landfills. By contrast, a sensor aboard the European satellite Sentinel-5 Precursor can scan across vast landscapes and measure methane concentrations in the atmosphere, but without pinpointing emission sources. MethaneSAT operates in-between these two extremes, scanning wide swathes of Earth while also providing high-resolution measurements that can locate emitters big and small.

“We’re fitting into a place where nobody else is operating,” says Steve Wofsy, an atmospheric scientist at Harvard University, who is leading MethaneSAT’s technical team.

The satellite helping slow climate change — right now

How is MethaneSAT different from other types of methane measurements?

Greater transparency has long been needed to understand the scale and location of methane emissions over time to target the largest reduction opportunities. Because methane has been overlooked, there have not been concerted efforts, until recently, to measure emissions with great precision or accuracy.

Several challenges plague traditional estimate techniques — in fact, a study from the International Energy Agency found that global methane emissions are about 70% higher than levels reported by national governments.

Satellites like MethaneSAT provide continuous observations at high resolution. Other satellite efforts exist, but MethaneSAT fills important gaps. For example, the European Space Agency’s TROPOMI satellite can detect methane, but it can’t attribute emissions to most individual sites.

On the other hand, satellites such as Carbon Mapper and GHGSat measure methane at specific locations, but not over large fields of view. MethaneSAT allows for the quantification of total emissions across entire landscapes, while detecting concentrated point sources, such as gas pipeline leaks, and dispersed areas sources, such as wetlands. That said, all of these satellites are crucial to our full understanding of methane emissions.

Armed with MethaneSAT’s data, governments will now be able to improve their national inventories, which provide an estimate of emissions, and better target high polluting activities. Additionally, governments such as United States and Europe will now have enhanced regulatory oversight for their recent rules that curb methane emissions.

Authorities will be better equipped to enforce, implement, and strengthen these regulations. They will also be able to use the almost real-time data as an early warning system to investigate and respond promptly to unexpected emission increases.

For corporations that have adopted methane commitments, the satellite’s data will help them identify and fix leaks from their operations and prioritize emissions cuts where they matter most. Also, as regions implement stricter regulations, companies can use MethaneSAT’s data to proactively monitor and ensure compliance.

Investors can use the data to scrutinize performance. For the public, MethaneSAT provides the opportunity to hold governments and companies accountable and demand action.

MethaneSAT: the satellite detecting methane emissions