In a first, SA spacecraft spots single methane leak on Earth

Washington, June 15: For the first time, an instrument onboard an orbiting SA spacecraft has measured the methane emissions from a single, specific leaking facility on the Earth’s surface, the US space agency has said. The observation — by the Hyperion spectrometer on SA’s Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) — is an important breakthrough in our ability to eventually measure and monitor emissions of this potent greenhouse gas from space. “This is the first time the methane emissions from a single facility have been observed from space,” said one of the researchers, David Thompson from SA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasade, California.

In a new paper, a research team detailed the observation, which occurred over Aliso Canyon, near Porter Ranch, California. The Hyperion instrument successfully detected the methane leak on three separate overpasses during the winter of 2015-16. The research was part of an investigation of the large accidental Aliso Canyon methane release last fall and winter.

The orbital observations from Hyperion were consistent with airborne measurements made by SA’s Airborne/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) imager flying onboard a SA ER-2 aircraft. (IANS)