High-frequency monitoring of anomalous methane point sources with multispectral Sentinel-2 satellite observations

12 April 2021

Satellites can detect methane emissions by measuring sunlight reflected from the Earth's surface and atmosphere. Here the authors show that the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 twin satellites can be used to monitor anomalously large methane point sources around the world, with global coverage every 2–5 days and 20 m spatial resolution. The authors demonstrate this previously unreported capability through high-frequency Sentinel-2 monitoring of two strong methane point sources in Algeria and Turkmenistan.

The press release by GHGSat can be found at: https://www.ghgsat.com/sentinel-2-and-methane-detection/

Contact: Daniel J. Varon (danielvaron@g.harvard.edu)