Global Alarm System Watches for Methane Superemitters

Science

Paul Voosen

February 3, 2023

An international team led by scientists at the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON) has developed a system for detecting huge methane leaks anywhere on Earth from space. The automatic methane spotter uses artificial intelligence (AI) to sift through 12 million daily observations gathered by Europe's Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite to detect the largest methane eruptions. The spotter employs Sentinel-5's Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI), which can identify methane's infrared glow, while the system's AI algorithms are trained to recognize methane plumes (and to filter out false positives). Tests on TROPOMI's 2021 measurements uncovered 2,974 methane leaks that researchers could confidently identify from one satellite pass, including more than 40% tied to oil and gas development, 33% linked with landfills, and 20% with coal mines.