Science Talk: Dr Luis Guanter

The MethaneSAT mission for the detection and quantification of anthropogenic methane emissions: overview and first results

Abstract:

Mitigating anthropogenic methane emissions is vital for reducing the rate of global warming. Under the scientific lead of the Environmental Defense Fund and Harvard University, the MethaneSAT satellite mission is designed to detect and quantify anthropogenic methane emissions around the world, in order to help mitigate emissions and develop global policy-relevant emission database efforts such as the International Methane Emissions Observatory. 

MethaneSAT was launched on 4 March 2024 and has recently completed its commissioning phase. The instrument consists of two spectrometers, one covering the 1249-1305 nm window sampling oxygen absorption, and one covering 1598-1683 nm for methane and CO2 retrievals, with <0.1 nm spectral sampling and <0.3 nm spectral resolution, which will enable methane concentration maps with high accuracy and precision. The mission will sample up to 25 sites per day, with a swath width of about 220 km and a spatial sampling of about 110 m x 400 m. These capabilities uniquely allow MethaneSAT to quantify total regional methane emissions, at the same time detect high-emitting point sources and characterize diffuse area sources. This measurement approach is being tested and consolidated through a series of flight campaigns across U.S. oil and gas basins with the MethaneAIR instrument, MethaneSAT’s airborne demostrator. 

MethaneSAT will provide quantitative data products on methane emission rates focusing on the majority of worldwide oil and gas production, with additional capacity to measure emissions from other sectors including agriculture. Operational data products related to methane emissions will be made freely available in the public domain via MethaneSAT’s data platform and the Google Cloud.

Speaker Bio:

Dr Luis Guanter – Environmental Defence Fund

Luis Guanter obtained his degree in Physics in 2002 and his Ph.D. in Environmental Physics in 2007, both from the Universitat de València (Spain). After several postdoctoral positions in Germany and UK, he became Head of the Remote Sensing Section of the GFZ Potsdam in Germany and the Principal Investigator of the satellite imaging spectroscopy mission in 2014. Since March 2019 he is a Full Professor in Applied Physics at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) in Spain, where he is leading the LARS (Land and Atmosphere Remote Sensing) group in January 2020. Since March 2022 Luis Guanter is sharing his position at UPV with a methane remote sensing scientist position at the Environmental Defense Fund. Luis Guanter has been included in Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers List of the world’s most influential scientists since 2019.

https://luiguapa.webs.upv.es/