The first measurements of greenhouse gases from the Tanager-1 satellite with a NASA instrument are published

Measurements have detected methane columns in Pakistan and Texas, as well as another of carbon dioxide in South Africa

Oct. 11 () – .

The NGO Carbon Mapper has published the first detections of methane and carbon dioxide from the Tanager-1 satellite using data from an imaging spectrometer designed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (LPC), as reported by the space agency in a statement.

Specifically, Measurements have detected methane columns in Pakistan and Texas, as well as another of carbon dioxide in South Africa. As NASA has reported, all of this data contributes to the organization’s goal of identifying and measuring point source greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale and making that information accessible and actionable.

By area, the space agency has explained that the data used to generate the image of Pakistan was collected over the city of Karachi (in the extreme south of the country) on September 19. The photo itself shows a plume of methane about four kilometers long emanating from a landfill. According to Carbon Mapper’s preliminary estimate, the source’s emissions rate is more than 1,200 kilos of methane released per hour.

That same day the image was taken over Kendal (about 120 kilometers from Johannesburg, South Africa). This reflects a column of carbon dioxide almost three kilometers long from a coal-fired power plant. According to the NGO’s preliminary estimate, the source’s emissions rate is around 600,000 kilos of carbon dioxide per hour.

Finally, the last image was obtained on September 24 in Midland (west of Texas, USA) and shows a plume of methane south of the city. Located in the Permian Basin, Midland is one of the largest oil fields in the world. Again, as Carbon Mapper’s preliminary estimate points out, the source’s emissions rate is almost 400 kilos of methane per hour.

Tanager-1, which has Carbon Mapper technology and was built by Planet Labs PBC, was launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California (USA) on August 16 and has been collecting data to verify that its spectrometer is working correctly. Both Planet Labs PBC and NASA LPC are members of the philanthropically funded Carbon Mapper Coalition.

IT WILL EXPLORE AROUND 300,000 KM2 OF THE EARTH PER DAY

Each chemical compound in the soil and in the atmosphere reflects and absorbs different combinations of wavelengths, which gives it a “spectral fingerprint” that researchers can identify. Thanks to the spectrometer, hundreds of wavelengths of light reflected from the Earth’s surface can be measured. Using this method, Tanager-1 will help researchers detect and measure emissions down to the facility level.

Once fully operational, the spacecraft will explore around 300,000 square kilometers of the Earth’s surface per day. As noted by NASA, the methane and carbon dioxide measurements collected by Tanager-1 will be publicly available on the Carbon Mapper data portal.