Detecting and quantifying methane point sources from space-based system
Cristina Ruiz Villena, University of Leicester, crv2@le.ac.uk (Presenter)
Alex J. Webb, University of Leicester, alex.webb@leicester.ac.uk (Presenter)
Rocio Barrio Guillo, University of Leicester, rbg8@leicester.ac.uk
Robert J. Parker, University of Leicester, rjp23@leicester.ac.uk
Hartmut Boesch, University of Leicester, hartmut.boesch@le.ac.uk
Methane (CH4) is the second most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) in terms of its overall effect on climate radiative forcing. The atmospheric residence time of methane is considerably shorter than that of carbon dioxide, but its warming potential significantly stronger. Methane is produced from natural sources such as wetlands, and as a result of human activities, such as the oil and gas industry, but there are large uncertainties in the global budgets. A small number of anomalously large anthropogenic point sources are a major contribution towards the total global methane emissions, thus early detection of such sources has great potential for climate mitigation.
Satellite observations allow the detection and quantification of methane sources even in remote areas where monitoring would otherwise be difficult or costly. Methane satellite observations are now possible from a wide variety of instruments with very different observational capabilities. In this work we explore the capabilities of three satellites with very different specifications and spatial resolutions ranging from metres (WorldView-3, WV-3), to tens of metres (PRISMA), to kilometre scale (TROPOMI), to detect and quantify methane point sources.
We present case studies for methane point source observations from the three satellites using the integrated mass enhancement (IME) method to estimate the emission rates from the detected methane plumes. For PRISMA and WV-3 methane is inferred from a PCA-based spectral method. To investigate limitations/detection limits, we ingest artificial plumes of varying magnitude into satellite observations, and we show how detector saturation in the presence of gas flaring limits the ability to observe methane plumes.
Poster: Poster_Ruiz_Villena__101_25.pdf
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: 3.2c Observations to quantify hot spots and local/urban emissions
Session Date: Wednesday (6/16) 9:45 AM