Today’s edition of CASIUS highlights that Methane measurements and emission estimates occur on a spectrum of timescales, from large-scale global assessments of annual emissions to small-scale measurements of emissions from individual sources.
This edition provides a graphic overview of new technologies that have emerged in recent years to detect, measure, and quantify ground and airborne methane emissions, each delivering different strengths for various monitoring conditions.
The sensor placement determines from where a methane concentration is measured, and therefore that data can be used to calculate emission flow rates. Measuring equipment can be handheld, fixed on site, mobile on the surface, airborne in drones or aircraft, and in different space orbits. Measuring distance from the source varies from a few centimeters in the case of a hand-held instrument, to over several kilometers in the case of satellite.
the placement of the sensor determines whether a method for estimation is bottom-up or top-down. Methods applied at the scale of individual methane emitters at coal mines, oil and natural gas facilities, wells and pipelines, landfills, and livestock, are generally referred to as bottom-up assessments. The deployed detection platforms can be classified into broad categories: hand-held, mobile ground labs-vehicle-based, fixed-autonomous continuous monitoring (ACM) and aerial-based.
Top-down assessments generally provide comprehensive measurement of methane from energy production, industrial agriculture, and other sources in the space at the continental or global level. Several airborne and satellite methane-sensing exist and have been revealed to detect methane hotspots as “ultra-emitters” defined as producing 25 tons or more of methane each hour, which are even larger than super-emitters.
Combined, these technologies are helping to build a stronger set of monitoring solutions to reduce methane emissions from energy, waste, and agriculture, resulting in an exciting opportunity to reduce the risks of climate change faster and more effectively in the near-term.
Quickly detecting and repairing methane leaks is essential to lessen greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the fastest and most effective way to slow the rate of global warming.