variety of leaks

The 37 methane plumes originate from a variety of leaks, including inefficient flaring, a gas-drilling well, compressor stations and broken pipelines. Of the total methane emissions in the surveyed area, 40 percent appear to come from just 19 leaks, mostly related to relatively new infrastructure. ‘This suggests that people have been less careful especially in recent years,’ says Aben. ‘It is important that we have identified the exact sources because now something can be done about it quickly.’

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strong greenhouse gas

Methane causes a 34 times stronger greenhouse effect than CO2 over a 100-year period. Maasakkers: ‘Leaks are therefore not only a waste of fuel, but also extremely bad for the environment. The good news is that much of the emissions come from a limited number of leaks. This is the low-hanging fruit in the fight against climate change.’

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combination of satellites

The researchers tracked the sources through a combination of a space instrument with daily global coverage — TROPOMI — and other higher spatial resolution satellite instruments that provide pixels as small as 30 by 30 metres for limited areas. These instruments are actually intended for imaging the Earth’s surface but can now also be used to detect the largest methane sources.

The first authors of the accompanying publication in Science Advances are Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate and Luis Guanter from the Technical University of Valencia.

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Publication

Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate, Luis Guanter, Yin-Nian Liu, Daniel J. Varon, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Yuzhong Zhang, Apisada Chulakadabba, Steven C. Wofsy, Andrew K. Thorpe, Riley M. Duren, Christian Frankenberg, David Lyon, Benjamin Hmiel, Daniel H. Cusworth, Yongguang Zhang, Karl Segl, Javier Gorroño, Elena Sánchez-García, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Kaiqin Cao, Haijian Zhu, Jian Liang, Xun Li, Ilse Aben, Daniel J. Jacob, ‘Satellite-based survey of extreme methane emissions in the Permian basin’, Science Advances

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