A new satellite has been launched to monitor greenhouse gas methane emissions, which is involved in anthropogenic climate change. It has been tested and shows promise in helping to fight global warming.

(Photo: Pixabay)
A new satellite has been launched to monitor emissions of the greenhouse gas methane, which is involved in anthropogenic climate change. It has been tested and shows promise in helping fight global warming.

READ: Reducing Emissions of Carbon Dioxide Is Not as Easy as It Seems

Satellite Iris

The satellite has been named Iris, and it can map methane plumes in our atmosphere to a staggeringly high resolution of 25 meters. This allows the satellite to detect specific individual methane sources such as gas and oil facilities. 

It was launched last September 2 by GHG Sat, a company from Montreal. It is the company's pioneer satellite in its planned constellation of ten spacecraft.

First Observations

Iris was first used over Turkmenistan, selecting a region that reportedly has gas and oil facilities emitting voluminous plumes.

Iris's detection overlaid over a standard aerial image that shows methane concentration in the atmosphere with higher levels than usual.

READ ALSO: Worldwide Methane Emissions Reach Record-High Due to Fossil Fuels and Certain Farming

Early Success

Stéphane Germain, CEO of GHGSat, said that its expectations were met with Iris' data, from the spectroscopy data to the intended resolution.

Germain says they still have to adjust Iris' calibration to allow them to verify its detection threshold and overall performance. However, in its first foray, the data is brought back was in every way, nothing short of phenomenal.

The Dangers of Methane

In terms of warming the earth, methane is more dangerous than carbon dioxide (CO2). It can cause warming up to 30 times more compared to CO2 so that methane release is more harmful than CO2 emission.

Methane production coming from human activities are multitudinous and have a variety of sources. It does not only come from gas and oil plants; it is also emitted from agricultural activities, in landfills, hydro-electric dams, and coal mines.

Setting Up Networks and Collaborations

GHGSat is currently coordinating and working alongside regulators, operators, and various stakeholders to characterize methane emissions with the use of Claire, a satellite prototype launched in the year 2016.

As Iris orbits, the additional data it provides is intended to be interpreted in an analytics facility established in London and Edinburgh soon.

According to Dr. Germain, they are doing world-class work in analytics and spacecraft systems. He says that people are concerned about climate change in the UK, and the company wants to be in a place where people can help the enterprise that is trying to address the problem.

The company has also been strengthening ties with the ESA or European Space Agency. ESA operates the Sentinel-5P, a satellite owned by the EU. Sentinel 5-P is also monitoring methane, providing an image of its presence worldwide each day. It only has a 7-kilometer resolution, so that it has less resolution compared to Iris and Claire. Claire has a 50-meter resolution.

A Formidable Team

The three satellites are an ideal combination. While the Sentinel-5P can see the entire planet each day, which Iris cannot, the latter can detect individual facilities, which the former cannot. The company's collaboration with ESA can significantly impact alleviating climate change by detecting greenhouse gas methane emissions. Satellites like the WorldView satellite have proven to be one of the most advanced and useful tools our species wields. 

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