Methane Emissions Detected In The Gulf Of Mexico!

A team of scientists has used satellite data to detect methane plumes from an offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

Methane is the second most abundant anthropogenic greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide which is more than 25 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, within a 100-year time period. The mitigation of methane emissions from fossil fuel extraction, and process transport is one of the most effective ways to slow down global warming.

Satellite-based methods have proved instrumental for the detection and qualification of the types of emissions. However, with the rapid development of satellite-based methane plume detection methods over land, there is still an important observational gap regarding emissions that are coming from offshore crude oil and gas operations.

This is mostly caused by the low reflection of the water in the shortwave infrared wavelengths used for methane remote learning.

Let’s hope that we could stop global warming to make our beloved earth a better place to live.

Author: Sri Nihal Tammana

Source: European Space Agency