Content-Length: 274599 | pFad | https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03594-w

=86400 Tracking methane super-emitters from space
Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • SPOTLIGHT

Tracking methane super-emitters from space

A new wave of satellites is revolutionizing how the authorities crack down on polluters.
  1. Jonathan O’Callaghan

    1. Jonathan O’Callaghan is a freelance space journalist based in Horsham, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

A SpaceX rocket prepares to launch at night

Three of GHGSat’s satellites launch into orbit on SpaceX’s Transporter-7 ride-sharing mission. Credit: SpaceX

No one noticed when an old pipe started spewing methane into the sky in the British countryside. The leak, near a railway line and landfill site in Cheltenham, UK, released more than 200 kilograms of methane an hour, yet the invisible gas went undetected. That was until Emily Dowd, a climate scientist at the University of Leeds, UK, spotted the leak in March 2023 while looking through observations from a passing satellite. “It was completely by chance,” she says.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03594-w

This article is part of Nature Spotlight: Space research, an editorially independent supplement. Advertisers have no influence over the content.

References

  1. Schuit, B. J. et al. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 23, 9071–9098 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

  • Southeast University Future Technology Institute Recruitment Notice

    Professor openings in mechanical engineering, control science and engineering, and integrating emerging interdisciplinary majors

    Nanjing, Jiangsu (CN)

    Southeast University, China

  • W2-Professur für Integrative Zoologie der Invertebraten

    At the Faculty of Biological Sciences of Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany a   W2 Professorship for Integrative Zoology of Invertebrates ...

    Jena, Thüringen (DE)

    Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

  • W3-Professur für Pharmazeutische Biologie

    The Faculty of Biological Sciences at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany invites applications for a   W3 Professorship for Pharmaceuti...

    Jena, Thüringen (DE)

    Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena

  • Scientist, RNA Genomics

    The lab of Computational Transcriptomics at the Genome Institute of Singapore is offering a position for a postdoctoral fellow.

    Singapore (SG)

    Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)

  • Assistant Professor, Genomics, Bioethics, and Bioinformatics

    Full-time faculty position at the Assistant Professor level in the Line (tenure track) series in an appropriate dept in the UCI School of Medicine

    Irvine, California

    University of California, Irvine - School of Medicine

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links









 ApplySandwichStrip

pFad - (p)hone/(F)rame/(a)nonymizer/(d)eclutterfier!      Saves Data!


--- a PPN by Garber Painting Akron. With Image Size Reduction included!

Fetched URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03594-w

Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy