The greenhouse gas methane comes under unprecedented scrutiny in a new mapping tool released by Canada’s GHGSat today (Oct. 21).
The free map, called Pulse, combines data gathered on methane from GHGSat as well as other sources to quantify average methane emissions around the world. The map displays monthly methane concentrate averages over resolution that averages 2 km by 2 km over land. The data is updated weekly and users can track changes backwards in time by up to six months.
The map indicates changes in methane concentrations by colour, said GHGSat president Stephane Germain. Red shows higher concentrations, blue shows lower concentrations, and areas where data is not available (typically at higher altitudes) are shown in grey. In response to a journalist question about accommodations for users with colour blindness, Germain said he would check with his team about possible accommodations – such as showing numbers.
“It’s normal for concentrations to be different by region and by season,” he said during an online press conference. “It’s also important to note that approximately 40 percent of the methane emissions worldwide every year are from natural sources. Wetlands, for example, are a significant natural source of methane. Also, the concentrations seen here are throughout the atmosphere, not just at the surface.”
Germain said the point of the free map is not so much to single out individual sources of methane (which can be obtained through higher-resolution pictures available for purchase), but more to drive a conversation about where emissions typically occur. That said, he pointed to some regions in Canada that do have higher methane emissions due to activities such as oil and gas drilling, such as Alberta, northeastern British Columbia, southern Saskatchewan and off the coast of Newfoundland.
On the worldwide scale, Germain pointed to GHGSat’s contribution to tracking methane in the Caspian Sea area, particularly in Turkmenistan. Past methane emissions from this region were quite high due to oil and gas facilities in the region, he said. “We published a paper last year on a source in this area, which we worked with local authorities to get shut down,” Germain added. “That one source was equivalent to taking a million cars off the road for a year.”
Germain emphasized that often the highest sources of human-made methane are unintentional, happening through incidents such as leaks or a broken piece of equipment. “So anything we see at high resolution, generally, is of interest to operators,” he said, because the operators can then make changes to fix the issue.
The free map shows overall concentrations – methane parts per million or billion – in an area through multiple sources, he added. The for-purchase emissions data do narrow down how the methane occurs by source, he added, as emissions is a more precise expression of methane produced as kilograms per hour, or tonnes per year.
The new map, said Canadian Space Agency science advisor Sarah Gallagher in the press conference, “really highlights the benefit of Earth observations and what we can learn from space. From space, we can see the big picture of our lands, waters and atmosphere and how they interact and change over time. This unique perspective of Earth is critical to help monitor, understand and protect our planet.”
The Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency have jointly agreed to make 5 percent of the capacity on GHGSat’s latest satellite, Iris, available for free, Germain said. Iris has 10 times higher performance than Claire, a demonstration satellite that GHGSat launched in 2016 that provided up to 25 by 25 meter pixels around industrial facilities.
A new satellite, Hugo, is expected to launch in December from Cape Canaveral, Fla. with a fourth satellite expected to follow soon. Series B funding of US $30 million announced by GHGSat last month will allow the constellation to build out to six satellites, including the demonstration satellite Claire. The company plans to have an initial constellation of 10 satellites. Additionally, the company is using aircraft equipped with their monitoring sensors to provide additional data.
The free map also uses data from ESA’s Sentinel-5P methane-seeking TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI), and methane concentration information is verified through a collaboration with Harvard University, Germain added.