A remote sensing satellite has detected one of the largest releases of methane from a single industrial site, an underground coal mine in south-central Russia. The discovery is another indication of the scope of the problem of curbing emissions of methane, a powerful gas that warms the planet.
Thirteen gas plumes were observed at the Raspadskya mine, Russia’s largest coal mine, in late January during a single pass by a satellite operated by GHGSat, a commercial emissions monitoring company. The total outflow of the plumes has been estimated to be about 87 metric tons (about 95 US tons) per hour.
“This is the biggest source we’ve ever seen,” said Brody Wight, director of energy, landfills and mines at GHGSat, which was founded in 2011 and now has six emission-sensing satellites. By contrast, the highest rate measured at Aliso Canyon, a natural gas storage facility in Southern California that had a major leak for nearly four months in 2015 and 2016, was about 60 metric tons per hour.
“This is a really big case,” said Felix Vogel, a researcher at Environment and Climate Change Canada in Toronto, which is not affiliated with GHGSat.
Wight said it is not known how long the launches continued at this rate at the mine. But several previous satellite passes have detected emissions in the tens of tons per hour. “We’ve seen a steady increase in what comes out of this place in general,” he said.
If the flow of 87 tons of methane per hour were continuous, the total annual emissions would equal those of five average coal-fired plants, the company said.
Wight said the releases were likely deliberate, as the Raspadskya mine, like other coal mines, has natural pockets rich in methane between the ore layers. A buildup of methane in the mine in 2010 caused an explosion that killed 66 people.
To reduce methane concentrations, large fans draw air into and through the mine, blowing the methane into the atmosphere.
Methane has a greater warming effect than carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas emitted by human activities. Over two decades, methane can result in about 80 times the warming of the same amount of carbon dioxide.
Methane emissions are much lower than carbon dioxide emissions, and the molecules break down much faster. But because of methane’s warming potential, reducing intentional or accidental emissions of the gas is seen as a way to more quickly limit global warming this century.
At the global climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, last year, more than 100 countries pledged to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030, although Russia and a few other big emitters were not among them.
Until recently, accurate measurement of emissions from specific industrial sites, such as mines, oil and gas production facilities, and landfills, could only be done using equipment on the ground or in airplanes. This limited the number of sites that could be studied.
While ground and aerial sensing is still carried out, satellites can now easily monitor much larger areas. Most of these satellites have relatively coarse resolution, however, meaning that while they can detect gas in an area at volumes similar to or greater than those measured at the Russian mine, they cannot pinpoint the specific locations of emissions. GHGSat satellites are among a new generation with much more accurate resolution.
Vogel said that now, with the new satellites, “we have tools that allow us to get actionable information.”
“They allow you to really get down to the scale of the facility and see specific parts where emissions occur,” he said. “You can tell companies where they need to fix something.”
Translated by Luiz Roberto M. Gonçalves
