The California Air Resources Board (CARB) announced the state is moving forward with an effort to reduce methane emissions with the help of innovative satellite technology. The project is made possible by a $100-million state budget investment to purchase methane plume data collected by satellites.

The technology involves satellite-mounted methane sensors which send data to enable the state to locate and monitor large emissions of methane that could otherwise go undetected. This data will allow state and local agencies to work together with industry to stop the leaks and protect public health.

This satellite data project to monitor methane is a unique state effort that will help us better identify sources of pollution Californians are already seeing and feeling the intensifying impacts from firsthand. The effort provides information that is much closer to real time than the data now available. It allows us to directly address one of the major contributors to what has become an immediate threat to public health and the environment. It also provides an opportunity for California to work with other jurisdictions which want to develop their own, similar satellite methane monitoring and reduction programs.

—CARB Chair Liane Randolph

The satellite project and the data acquired by it is made possible by a $100-million investment from the state’s Cap-and-Trade program. The state will maintain a database and web portal to coordinate and document mitigation actions. While California does not own these satellites, state agencies will be able to select specific regions for observation. This data will also be available to communities to view methane mitigation efforts, education, and for outreach.

Methane is a clear, odorless gas released from landfills, oil and gas operations, livestock facilities, as well as natural sources such as wetlands. It warms the atmosphere at least 25 times more than carbon dioxide.

From 2016 to 2018, CARB worked with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Energy Commission to test plume tracking technology mounted on conventional aircraft. The survey found that less than one percent of infrastructure in the state was responsible for up to 46% of total methane emissions in California.

However, conventional aircraft yield only a snapshot of what’s happening at a specific time. A satellite can survey a much wider area and because of its constant orbit can provide more detailed and continuous information to help determine the size of a leak, its duration and the volume of gas released into the atmosphere. The data can also be used to help gather details on other climate indicators such as geology and soils, agriculture, forests and vegetation, water remote sensing, urban land cover, human-made surfaces as well as snow and glaciers.

The type of satellite in this project will not see all methane emitted, and will only be able to detect large, localized leaks from individual “point” sources.