One of the largest releases of methane from an underground coal mine in south-central Russia has been detected by a satellite. Another indication of the scope of the problem is the finding.
In late January, a single pass of a satellite operated by a commercial emissions-monitoring firm was able to observe 13 plumes of gas at the biggest coal mine in Russia. It was estimated that the total flow rate was about 87 metric tons per hour.
The director of energy, landfills and mines at GHGSat said that this is the largest source they have ever seen. Aliso Canyon, a natural gas storage facility in Southern California that had a major leak in 2015, had a rate of 60 metric tons an hour.
Felix Vogel is a research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada who is not associated with GHGSat.
He didn't know how long the releases would continue at this rate. Emissions had been detected in the tens of tons an hour before. There has been a steady increase in what is coming from this site.
The company said that if the flow was continuous at 87 metric tons of methane an hour, it would be equivalent to five coal-fired power plants.
Mr. Wight said that the releases were most likely deliberate because the mine has methane-rich pockets beneath the coal. The explosion that killed 66 people was caused by a build up of methane.
Fans draw air into and through the mine to vent methane into the atmosphere.
Carbon dioxide has a bigger effect on warming than methane. Methane can cause about 80 times the warming of the same amount of carbon dioxide.
Carbon dioxide emissions are higher than methane, but the molecule break down more quickly. Reducing intentional or accidental emissions of methane is seen as a way to reduce global warming this century.
Great lake. Salt Lake City's air could be polluted by a bowl of toxic dust created by climate change and rapid population growth. There are no easy ways to avoid that outcome.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air. Scientists said the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hit a new high. Humans pumped 36 billion tons of the planet-warming gas into the atmosphere in 2011.
The U.S. performance was poor. The Environmental Performance Index, published every two years by researchers at Yale and Columbia, found that the United States had fallen behind other countries in its fight against climate change.
It was very hot. Scientists say that global warming has made the heat wave in Pakistan and India more likely to happen in the future. Since preindustrial times, the chances of a heat wave in South Asia have increased by at least 30 times.
More than 100 countries pledged at the global climate talks in Glasgow last fall to cut methane emissions by 30 percent by the year 2030.
Equipment on the ground or in airplanes can now be used to measure emissions from specific industrial sites. There was a limit on the number of sites that could be studied.
Satellites are able to monitor much larger areas. While they can detect gas over an area in volumes similar to or greater than that measured at the Russian mine, they can't narrow the emissions down to specific sites. The GHGSat satellites are among the newer ones.
The newer satellites allow us to get actionable information.
He said that they allow you to see specific parts of the facility where emissions are occurring. Companies can be told where to go to fix something.
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