NASA instrument aboard ISS excels at spotting greenhouse gas emission sources
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NASA said in its report that operators of landfills, agricultural sites, oil and gas operations, and other methane producers can address methane emissions if they know where they are coming from
NASA's Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) instrument, which was launched last year in July and stationed on the International Space Station (ISS), has spotted greenhouse gas emission sources, especially methane. NASA said that the instrument has shown an ability to detect more than just surface minerals.
The US-based space agency said that data from the EMIT instrument is being used to identify point-source emissions of greenhouse gases with a precision that has shocked even its inventors.
A new study published in Science Advances on November 17 stated that the detection of methane was not part of EMIT's main goal, but the imaging spectrometer's designers believed it could do it.
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The study stated that the detection of methane was not part of EMIT's core goal, although the imaging spectrometer's designers expected it to have the capability.
The study, titled, "Attribution of individual methane and carbon dioxide emission sources using EMIT observations from space", said that with over 750 emissions sources found since August 2022, the instrument has excelled.
Some observations are minor, some are in remote regions, and some are persistent over time.
Andrew Thorpe, who is a research technologist on the EMIT science team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the paper's lead author, said: It has exceeded our expectations. We were a little cautious at first about what we could do with the instrument."
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Greenhouse gases
After analysing the results, NASA said in its report that operators of landfills, agricultural sites, oil and gas operations, and other methane producers can address methane emissions if they know where they are coming from.
It added that tracking human-caused methane emissions is critical to minimising climate change because it provides a relatively low-cost, quick way to lower greenhouse gases.
Notably, greenhouse gas is any gas that can absorb infrared radiation emitted from Earth's surface and reradiate it back to Earth's surface, thus contributing to the greenhouse effect.
Carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapour are the most important greenhouse gases. Methane remains in the atmosphere for roughly a decade, but during that period, it traps up to 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide, which remains for aeons.
(With inputs from agencies)
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