Methane EMIT

There’s a European satellite watching for methane pollution. It spotted a big leak in Alberta.

ISS has a camera called EMIT attached and it can see methane plumes on Earth. The data is public, but not as easy as surfing around like on Google Earth to map it.

“Jan Gorski, director of the Pembina Institute’s oil and gas program, said consistent regulation is vital to spotting emissions.

“The source, location, and generation of methane emissions is unpredictable, which is why we need good measurement and monitoring to catch these rare events,” he said. 

“If it’s something caught by satellite it shows that it was a pretty significant source of methane emissions.”

Gorski said the current data on the average level of methane emissions from the gas sector is based on studies from more than a decade ago.”

"the firm estimated the plume had an emissions rate of 11 tonnes an hour, roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of 200 cars".
Every hour @CBC!
Actually the satellite spotted it Sep 28th and no one knows how many hours, days or weeks the leak lasted. https://t.co/0mhp64RWAa

— Boiling Frogs 🐸 (@BeingGreenSK) November 8, 2022