Mapping methane and carbon dioxide point sources from space with EMIT

Carbon dioxide and methane are the two primary anthropogenic climate-forcing agents and are the dominant source of uncertainty in the global carbon budget. We present the first observations of methane and carbon dioxide point source plumes from the oil&gas, waste management, and energy sectors using the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) imaging spectrometer. An initial analysis of results from selected countries in the Middle East and Central Asia indicate that Turkmenistan has both the greatest number and largest methane emissions observed in this study. EMIT measures 285 distinct wavelengths between 381 and 2493 nm with a 7.4 nm spectral resolution and an 80 km image swath with a 60 m spatial resolution. EMIT’s daily coverage is equivalent to an area the size of South Africa and its revisit frequency will permit an assessment of emissions over time. By providing the locations of emission sources, these results offer the potential to improve our understanding of global greenhouse gas budgets and to inform mitigation strategies.

Figure 1: Example of 12 methane plumes observed by NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission east of Hazar, Turkmenistan.