NASA Discovered 50 Super Emitters of Methane

NASA has discovered more than 50 super emitters of Methane on the Earth. This major discovery was made during NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission.

EMIT mission is designed to map the prevalence of key minerals in the earth's dust-producing deserts and to collect the information that will advance our understanding of airborne dust’s effects on climate.

Methane is far more effective than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in Earth’s atmosphere. Our new @NASAClimate EMIT mission, designed to measure atmospheric dust, has mapped more than 50 methane “super-emitters” around the planet: https://t.co/d4OhBwIeOQ pic.twitter.com/9QLxDMN0nW

— NASA (@NASA) October 25, 2022

EMIT mission is performed with the help of a device installed on the International Space Station, named the imaging spectrometer. The team of NASA scientists working on this mission has identified more than 50 “super-emitters” in Central Asia, the Middle East (Tehran), and the Southwestern United States. Super-emitters are of different types, especially the fossil fuel, waste, or agriculture sectors, that emit methane at high rates.

Turkmenistan Methane emission image taken by NASA's EMIT credit:NASA/JPL-caltech

Discovering new methane emissions is key to limiting global warming. This exciting discovery will help scientists better find out where methane leaks are coming from, and also provide needed information on how to address this mega emission.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in his press release,  “The International Space Station and NASA’s more than two dozen satellites and instruments in space have long been invaluable in determining changes to the Earth’s climate. EMIT is proving to be a critical tool in our toolbox to measure this potent greenhouse gas – and stop it at the source.”

Methane plume 3 miles (4.8 kilometres) long in tehran Iran. picture taken by NASA's EMIT credit:NASA/JPL-caltech

The spectrometer can record Methane emission with high accuracy in such a way that, Methane absorbs infrared light in a unique pattern – called a spectral fingerprint, EMIT’s imaging spectrometer records the same with great precision. The spectrometer can also measure the emission of carbon dioxide from space.

The EMIT has the ability to scan dozens of miles wide areas of  Earth as well as can focus areas as small as a soccer field. 
The new observations stem from the broad coverage of the planet afforded by the space station’s orbit, as well as from EMIT’s ability to scan swaths of Earth’s surface dozens of miles wide while resolving areas as small as a soccer field.

David Thompson, EMIT's instrument scientist and senior research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said,
“These results are exceptional, and they demonstrate the value of pairing a global-scale perspective with the resolution required to identify methane point sources, down to the facility scale, It’s a unique capability that will raise the bar on efforts to attribute methane sources and mitigate emissions from human activities.”

image shows a methane plume emitting 2 miles long in south east of Carlsbad new Mexico image credit:NASA/JPL-caltech

As compared to carbon dioxide, methane makes up only a fraction of human-caused greenhouse-gas emissions, but according to an estimate it is 80 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere. 

The emission of greenhouse gases is a major cause of global warming, and sincere efforts are much needed to overcome the emission of greenhouse gases, Identifying methane point sources can be a key step to reduce the emission of these gases.

After having knowledge of the exact locations of big emitters, operators of facilities, equipment, and infrastructure all the global powers must unite to act quickly to limit emissions, to control global warming.

EMIT is on the mission to collect measurements of surface minerals in desert regions of Africa, Asia, North and South America, and Australia. With the help of this data, scientists could better understand airborne dust particles’ role in heating and cooling Earth’s atmosphere.

NASA’s chief scientist and senior climate advisor Kate Calvin said, “We have been eager to see how EMIT’s mineral data will improve climate modeling, this additional methane-detecting capability offers a remarkable opportunity to measure and monitor greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.”

Size of detected Methane Plumes

"Some of the plumes EMIT detected are among the largest ever seen – unlike anything that has ever been observed from space,” said Andrew Thorpe, a research technologist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory leading the EMIT methane effort. “What we’ve found in just a short time already exceeds our expectations.”

New Mexico Emission
EMIT detected a gas plume about 2 miles (3.3 kilometers) long southeast of Carlsbad, New Mexico, in the Permian Basin. One of the largest oilfields in the world, the Permian spans parts of southeastern New Mexico and western Texas. estimated flow rates of 40,300 pounds (18,300 kilograms) were recorded at the Permian site.

Turkmenistan Emission
12 methane emission plumes were found In Turkmenistan, EMIT identified these plumes from the oil and gas infrastructure, east of the Caspian Sea port city of Hazar. Blowing to the west, some plumes stretch more than 20 miles (32 kilometers). Estimated 111,000 pounds (50,400 kilograms) of methane emission  per hour was recorded  

Iran Emission
The team also identified a methane plume in the south of Tehran, Iran, at least 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) long, from a major waste-processing complex. Methane is a byproduct of decomposition, and landfills can be a major source. About 18700 pounds (8,500 kilograms) per hour of emission of methane was recorded in Tehran.

The biggest Emission
The Turkmenistan sources together have a similar flow rate to the 2015 Aliso Canyon gas leak, which exceeded 110,000 pounds (50,000 kilograms) per hour at times. The Los Angeles-area disaster was among the largest methane releases in U.S. history.

Future Objectives of EMIT mission

“As it continues to survey the planet, EMIT will observe places in which no one thought to look for greenhouse-gas emitters before, and it will find plumes that no one expects,” said Robert Green, EMIT’s principal investigator at JPL.
EMIT is the first of a new series of spaceborne imaging spectrometers to study Earth while the second will be launched soon.

JPL to build Carbon Plume Mapper (CPM)

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will develop Carbon Plume Mapper (CPM).

JPL is joining hands with other partners in the development of an instrument that’s designed to detect methane and carbon dioxide. JPL is working on a nonprofit, Carbon Mapper, along with other partners, to launch two satellites equipped with CPM in late 2023.