New EDF-Harvard Satellite Will Monitor Methane Emissions From Oil And Gas Production Globally

MethaneSAT, a collaborative project between the Environmental Defense Fund, Harvard University and others, aims to combat climate change through improved monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions.

A satellite that promises to play a key role in the fight against climate change by monitoring methane emissions has been launched into Earth orbit. The satellite was picked up by a SpaceX rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in southern California on Monday.

3.000 miles away, Steven Wofsy, a professor of atmospheric and environmental sciences at Harvard University who has overseen the satellite's development since the project began in 2015, described the moment of launch like "standing on the edge of the abyss".

“Over the years, we've devoted a lot of time and energy to preparing to do something,” Wofsy said at a launch party at Harvard, where about 100 students and faculty gathered. in the lobby of the school's newly completed Science and Engineering complex in Allston on Friday. “Once that 'little guy' gets into space, that's when the real work begins.”

The “little guy” in question is MethaneSAT, an 800-pound satellite that monitors methane emissions from oil and gas fields around the world and provides public information in near real time.

The $88 million project, which developers call the world's most advanced methane-detecting satellite, is funded by the Environmental Defense Fund and is the first satellite owned by a environmental non-profit organization. The satellite will orbit the Earth every 95 minutes, at an altitude of 326 miles above the Earth's surface. Using high-resolution infrared sensors, the satellite will scan an area approximately 125 miles wide to detect elevated methane concentrations and, in some cases, measure methane emissions from individual wells .

To design and build the satellite, the organization cooperated with Harvard University, British aerospace company BAE Systems, Harvard Astrophysics Center and Smithsonian - a leader in developing observation stations. Cosmic Observation – along with a number of other parties.

Once in orbit, the satellite's operations will be monitored by the New Zealand Space Agency, which has also provided additional funding for the project. Google, another partner, will support the release of the data.

Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after CO2, accounting for about 30% of current warming gases. In the oil and gas sector, methane leaks, or in some cases, is intentionally released at every stage of the supply chain, from wells to compressor stations and pipelines.

Controlling methane emissions is believed to be the most effective way to slow the pace of climate change in the short term because methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, 80 times more warming than CO2 and exists in the Earth's atmosphere. Land for a relatively short period of time.

“We can significantly reduce the rate of temperature rise over the next few decades by addressing the methane problem aggressively,” said Steven Hamburg, chief scientist of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). .

The oil and gas industry is the second largest source of methane emissions related to human activities, after agriculture. EDF will focus its efforts on reducing emissions from oil and gas because there are only a relatively small number of large emitters and effective, low-cost methods to reduce emissions.

Methane, the main component of natural gas, is also a valuable resource. Minimizing methane leaks and releases from wells and other infrastructure will help make more use of the product.

The New Zealand Space Agency will use MethaneSAT to scan emissions from agriculture in certain areas. Agriculture accounts for nearly half of the country's greenhouse gas emissions. However, this satellite's ability to quantify emissions from individual livestock on a large scale is limited, as are methods to reduce emissions from livestock.

In the early 2010s, EDF conducted more than a dozen studies using aircraft monitoring equipment and ground sensors to assess methane emissions across the entire U.S. oil and gas sector. The study concluded that actual methane emissions are much higher than the official estimates that oil and gas companies report to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The EPA said it will issue new regulations on March 8, requiring the oil and gas industry to reduce methane emissions by nearly 3%.

MethaneSAT will use methane sensing equipment similar to what EDF has used in previous aircraft studies, but capable of monitoring larger areas in less time. It is estimated that, using the new satellite, EDF can observe emissions from more than 80% of oil and gas production worldwide.

The satellite launch comes as the European Union, the world's largest gas importer, is finalizing requirements to limit methane emissions related to oil and gas imports.

“We can provide information that allows people to start making distinctions about the emissions profiles of different gas supplies around the world,” said Mark Brownstein, senior vice president of energy conversion. of EDF, said. “We think this will be very helpful for large gas consumers in choosing business locations.”

“Satellites will give us better information about U.S. emissions and leaks, and open the door to activities in countries we cannot study, such as Russia ”, said Rob Jackson, professor of Earth system science at Stanford University, who was not involved in the project.

However, Jackson also expressed concern that having better information about methane emissions does not necessarily lead to a reduction in climate pollution.

“We have recorded high emissions in oil and gas fields in the US for decades now, but emissions continue to increase,” he said.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not yet decided whether to allow the use of data collected from MethaneSAT to enforce upcoming methane emissions regulations.

“EDF, along with other owners of remote sensing technology, may apply for certification,” said EPA spokeswoman Shayla Powell about the new Super Methane Emissions Program, part of the new regulations.

“If EPA evaluates MethaneSAT and deems it consistent with the EPA-approved public data category, then anyone can use that data to trigger regulatory actions,” said Drew Shindell, said professor of Earth sciences at Duke University. “That would be unprecedented in America.”

MethaneSAT will join a small but growing group of methane monitoring satellites and will provide new capabilities that other satellites do not have. If the satellite reaches its full potential, the device will be a significant achievement for Wofsy, a Harvard professor and leader in the global atmospheric research community, who said he never wanted to launch satellite.

Wofsy, 77, has led projects since the 1990s using remote sensors on planes, balloons and towers to measure pollutants and other gases as they move through the atmosphere. vol.

“I always promised myself I would never do another satellite project,” he said at Friday's launch party.

Professor Wofsy said years of preparing satellites for launch, the possibility of malfunctions in space and what he described as NASA's avoidance of satellite projects providing policy-relevant information had made him frustrated with this effort.

However, MethaneSAT's goal of monitoring methane emissions prompted him to change his mind.

“This is important to me, in part because it has the ultimate goal of making a real impact,” Wofsy said.

“Not only through science and engineering do we have the ability to do something, but sometimes we also have a responsibility,” said David Parkes, dean of Harvard's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. as he congratulated those at the university who were involved in the project. “This is Steve Wofsy, [and] his colleagues decided that we really have to do this, we have to find new ways to solve the climate crisis.”

Translated from the article: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04032024/new-edf-harvard-satellite-will-monitor-methane-emissions-worldwide/