Montreal company launches global map of methane concentrations
`Reducing ... emissions is an important tool in the fight against climate change'
A Montreal company has unveiled what it boasts is the most accurate map of global methane concentrations ever made.
GHGSAT Inc. released the methane map, Pulse, this week that uses data from the company's two satellites, which were launched earlier this year and can detect methane emitted by oil and gas wells, coal mines, power plants, farms and factories. It's part of a wave of climate surveillance that will make it possible to hold countries and companies accountable for meeting targets to reduce and eventually eliminate planet-warming pollution.
The interactive map, available for free online, has a resolution of about two square kilometres. A paid version of the map with a resolution of 25 square metres is also available.
Methane accounts for a quarter of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions. According to the science journal Nature, methane emissions have risen by nearly 10 per cent over the past two decades.
Company president and founder Stephane Germain told reporters when he introduced the map that he hoped it will “stimulate discussion and inspire people to ask questions.”
“The concentrations shown are in the atmosphere — not just at ground level,” Germain said during his presentation. “The concentrations in one region therefore may be due to emissions in another region.”
The time-lapse map published by GHGSAT covers a six-month stretch through Oct. 10 — less than two weeks ago — based on weekly images captured from space, as well as from information from partners such as the European Space Agency. Average methane emissions are represented in green, at about 1,800 parts per billion, with yellow above average and dark red at the high end of the scale.
The early readings cover the lockdowns that aimed to slow the COVID-19 pandemic, which devastated demand for oil and sent methane emissions lower. Intensification on the map shows how quickly methane can build during the hot summer months in the Northern Hemisphere, with orange and red pixels along the Arctic coast and around Beijing.
The map identifies concentration of methane across the troposphere, where naturally occurring emissions such as those from wetlands mingle with others caused by human activity. Mountains can be seen trapping methane, such as in Southern California near the Sierra Nevada range or in South Asia below the Himalayas. Methane is more than 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, although its greenhouse impact fades much faster.
“We've got a situation where for more than the last decade there's been a significant and unexplained upward tick in global methane atmospheric concentrations,” said Jonathan Elkind, a senior research scholar at Columbia University's
Center on Global Energy Policy. In a paper published last week, Elkind outlined the way satellite-driven transparency will better allow investors to identify which companies aren't backing their goals with action.
Sarah Gallagher, a scientific adviser for the Canadian Space Agency, attended Germain's presentation and said the map revealed fluctuations in methane concentrations in Canada's Far North.
“We know that there is not a lot of industrial activity in Northern Canada,” she said.
“The red areas (on the map) are natural sources of methane. One of the important consequences of climate change is the impact on permafrost melting, which can influence methane emissions.”
In April and May, when the northern region is still largely covered with ice and snow, it shows up on the map in green and blue — colours that correspond to low methane concentrations.
“But when you go into summer — June, July, August — the colours start to change to red,” Germain said. “It is reasonable to assume that there is more methane due to the melting permafrost.”
About 40 per cent of the world's annual methane emissions are from natural sources, Germain said. The rest is attributed to human activity.
“The global warming potential of methane is 84 times greater than that of carbon dioxide — the greenhouse gas we may be most familiar with,” Gallagher said.
“It is important to know where, when and how methane enters the atmosphere. Reducing methane emissions is an important tool in the fight against climate change.”
GHGSAT claims its satellite offers the highest-resolution methane data publicly available, and the it sells access to companies ranging from Royal Dutch Shell Plc to landfill operators.
In the next year, GHGSAT plans
to release additional data that will also quantify emissions, Germain said. That will make it clear how much methane is released by drilling in the U.S. Permian Basin every week, for example.
The company also is developing a carbon dioxide-monitoring satellite that may be launched into orbit in 2022.
Satellite data will ultimately transform the way nations are held accountable for voluntary commitments under the Paris Agreement, which calls for limiting global average temperatures from rising more than 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels.
Granular data that can pinpoint emissions down to specific facilities will also help track corporate emissions.
“Very soon nobody is going to be able to hide from methane leakage,” former BP Plc Chief Executive Officer Bob Dudley predicted in 2018.