Using satellite data, scientists have actually mapped huge plumes of methane released by human activities.Those satellite images exposed that plumes of methane emitted by oil and gas facilities during leaks or upkeep operations comprised about 8% to 12% of all oil and gas methane emissions, according to a new study. “This work confirms what we have actually just glimpsed in previous studies of individual facilities and regions: that intermittent, large releases of methane from oil and gas operations prevail worldwide and are mainly unreported,” study co-author Riley Duren, a research study researcher at the University of Arizona and CEO of Carbon Mapper, a nonprofit that works to keep an eye on and minimize methane and co2 emissions, said in a statement. “In this vital years for climate action, this underscores the immediate need for consistent worldwide observing systems that can detect, determine and quantify methane emissions at scales relevant to decision making,” Duren said. Related: 10 disastrous signs of environment modification satellites can see from spaceMethane is the second-most-common greenhouse gas given off into Earths environment behind co2, and more damaging for the climate than carbon dioxide in the short-term. A lots of methane released into the environment traps about 80 times more heat than a lots of co2 over a 20 year duration, according to the MIT Climate Portal. To determine the methane released by human activities worldwide between 2019 and 2020, researchers studied atmospheric methane images produced by the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument aboard the European Space Agencys Sentinel-5P satellite, which determines methane in the environment daily. The researchers found that about 1,200 (around two-thirds) of the noticeable “ultra-emitters”– sources producing more than 27.5 lots (25 metric tons) of methane per hour– came from oil and gas production, while the staying one-third was divided among coal, agriculture and waste management, according to the study. Top left: An international map of the 1,200 oil and gas methane plumes identified during the study. Bottom left: Gas pipelines in Russia and Central Asia. Bottom right: An example of a methane plume identified over northern Africa. (Image credit: Lauvaux et al./ Science/MapBox)Methane launched during oil and gas production is likely an outcome of expected maintenance activities and unforeseen malfunctioning devices or leakages. Turkmenistan had the highest approximated methane emissions during the study period, followed by Russia, the U.S., Iran, Kazakhstan and Algeria. The scientists couldnt determine methane plumes in locations such as the U.S. Permian Basin or where oil is produced in Canada and China due to the fact that the overall emissions in these areas were too high to make out individual ultra-emitters, The New York Times reported. Preventing these methane plumes, either by imposing leakage detection or by minimizing methane released during maintenance, would be the equivalent of getting rid of 20 million vehicles from the roadway for a year, according to the study.The findings were published Feb. 3 in the journal Science.Originally published on Live Science.
