{"id":783137,"date":"2024-05-29T17:14:54","date_gmt":"2024-05-29T22:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=783137"},"modified":"2024-05-29T17:14:54","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T22:14:54","slug":"satellite-solution-detecting-methane-emissions-offshore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/?p=783137","title":{"rendered":"Satellite solution: detecting methane emissions offshore"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Artistic rendering of the three\u00a0satellites from the GHG<\/abbr>Sat fleet orbiting Earth, methane emission map and offshore platform in the Gulf of Mexico (Credits: GHG<\/abbr>Sat, C-CORE<\/span> and CSA<\/abbr>).<\/p>\n


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Methane emissions pose a significant threat to our planet’s climate, particularly those originating from offshore sources like oil and gas platforms. Innovative Canadian companies are using satellite data to tackle this challenge. By detecting and monitoring methane leaks from space, these efforts represent a promising step towards environmental protection and mitigating climate change.<\/p>\n

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The challenge<\/h2>\n

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The greenhouse effect is a well-known phenomenon: sunlight is shining through the glass panels of a greenhouse and the heat is trapped because it cannot radiate through the glass into the cool outdoors, resulting in rising temperature. Likewise, Earth’s atmosphere is a natural layer that can maintain favourable conditions for life by retaining solar heat on our planet. However, since the industrial revolution, we have released enormous amounts of harmful gases into the upper atmosphere that now contribute to trapping that heat and cause global warming.<\/p>\n

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A very strong greenhouse gas is methane; it can trap heat 80\u00a0times more effectively than carbon dioxide. The amount of methane has doubled over the past 150\u00a0years and continues to increase, mainly because of human activities. Common sources of methane release all over the world include raising cattle, landfills, biomass burning, as well as oil and gas production both on land and at sea.<\/p>\n


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The project<\/h2>\n

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For several years, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA<\/abbr>) has supported the Canadian company GHG<\/abbr>Sat to develop satellite-based sensors that can detect and precisely locate methane emissions not only in Canada, but around the world as well. The key tool is a small but very capable GHG<\/abbr>Sat satellite system.<\/p>\n

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C-CORE<\/span>, a Newfoundland-based company, has been working with GHG<\/abbr>Sat since

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The OEM<\/abbr> project is ambitious: assemble the world’s first satellite-based system capable of identifying methane emissions from offshore platforms using imagery from various freely available satellite missions. The project can provide a worldwide service to identify possible sources of greenhouse gases that require detailed investigation. This tip-and-cue process focus the GHG<\/abbr>Sat satellites to measure more precise levels of emissions at the platform under investigation. The preliminary trials of the system yielded promising results, demonstrating its capability to deliver precise and comprehensive measurements of methane with high accuracy.<\/p>\n


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The how<\/h2>\n

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The primary hurdle in developing the satellite-based system was developing glint mode approaches for the freely available missions and the GHG<\/abbr>Sat satellites. For C-CORE<\/span> using freely available images, this meant identifying areas in the image that provided glint mode data, and developing the analytics that could detect platforms with methane emissions. This is the tipping<\/strong> part of the operation. C-CORE<\/span> also added flaring analytics and database mining to highlight platforms at high risk of emitting.<\/p>\n

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For GHG<\/abbr>Sat this meant demonstrating the ability to manoeuvre the GHG<\/abbr>Sat satellites to point at the platforms to acquire data in glint mode and new approaches to derive methane measurements. Methane plumes can best be imaged from space against the backdrop of sun-glint from the ocean (the very bright reflection of water surfaces under specific sun illumination conditions).<\/p>\n


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Artistic rendering of the three\u00a0satellites (Luca, Penny and Diako) from the GHG<\/abbr>Sat fleet orbiting Earth. (Credit: GHG<\/abbr>Sat)<\/p>\n


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Once the locations of these methane plumes had been reliably marked, the cueing<\/strong> part of the operation began. Oil production platform locations that revealed methane emissions then became subject to closer investigation and subject to monitoring efforts. Now the maps of the platform locations were overlaid by GHG<\/abbr>Sat image maps that contained point-source methane emission measurements.<\/p>\n


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(Dramatic methane plume detected using C-CORE<\/span>‘s proprietary algorithms and satellite data from Landsat\u00a09, on


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During the trial phase, the project partners gained valuable experience. Using its patented infrared sensor, GHG<\/abbr>Sat recorded and fine-tuned the unique signature<\/strong> of controlled methane releases. This validated and quantified the emission measurements. C-CORE<\/span> developed a method where they used extensive archives of Landsat and Sentinel Earth observation satellite imagery of the Gulf of Mexico to collect evidence of methane plumes from over 1800\u00a0offshore platforms in that part of the world. That information was then used to identify platforms with a history of major emissions and to steer GHG<\/abbr>Sat data collection toward these sites for potential methane release monitoring from space.<\/p>\n

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Next, the OEM<\/abbr> project was put into practice. The platform and plume detection procedures were successfully demonstrated in

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With the CSA<\/abbr>‘s support, C-CORE<\/span> and GHG<\/abbr>Sat successfully explored and implemented space-based solutions to localizing, measuring, and monitoring offshore emissions of one of the most potent greenhouse gases.<\/p>\n


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Smallest methane plume ever detected by satellites. It was measured at 182\u00a0kg<\/abbr>\/hour by GHG<\/abbr>Sat-C3 on


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The benefits<\/h2>\n

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The service offered by the OEM<\/abbr> project is an excellent example of Canadian ingenuity. It shows that the use of space technology can have far-reaching impacts on detecting and monitoring greenhouse gas sources in remote offshore regions which, in turn, brings significant benefits for Canada:<\/p>\n

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