A major UK leak of the extremely
potent greenhouse gas methane has been spotted from space for the first time.
The leak - seen by
satellite - occurred over a three-month period at a gas main operated by Wales
and West Utilities. The amount leaked could have powered 7,500 homes for a
year.
Satellite detection shows
the potential of picking up methane gas leaks quickly so they can be stopped
sooner.
Methane has 28 times the
heating potential of CO2.
It is responsible for about 30% of the rise in
global temperatures.
The leak from a pipeline in
Cheltenham revealed exclusively to the BBC, was discovered in March
It was detected by Leeds
University with the help of specialist satellites.
Emily Dowd, a Ph.D.
researcher at the university's School of Earth and Environment and the National
Centre for Earth Observation, had been using satellite imagery to assess
methane leaks from landfill sites.
But she noticed on the
images the distinct marker of a methane leak some miles away, coming from a gas
pipeline owned by Wales and West Utilities.
Identifying and tackling
methane emissions is a crucial objective of the UK and other countries seeking
to tackle climate change.
Upon discovering the leak
Ms Dowd worked with GHGSat - whose satellites provided the original images - to
take further surveys from space, while a team from Royal Holloway University
made on-the-ground round measurements.
Ms Dowd said: "Finding
this leak brings a question of how many there are out there and maybe we need
to be looking a bit harder to find them and take advantage of the technology we
have."
Wales and West Utilities
said they became aware of the leak after a member of the public reported the smell
of gas. They said they were in the process of obtaining the necessary
permissions for replacing the gas mains when the leak was picked up by
satellite.
The cause of the leak is
unclear but methane leaks in gas pipelines are not uncommon with ageing infrastructure.
However, the satellite
detection process has shown the potential of picking up methane leaks quickly.
The main sources of methane
are the oil and gas industry, farming, and landfill sites. UK methane emissions
have fallen significantly since 1990 but in recent years progress has slowed.
Currently, methane leaks
are detected through routine on-the-ground surveys - a very challenging
prospect when there are thousands of miles of pipes and sites. And the UK's
methane emissions are only an estimate gleaned from economic activity data.
Jean-Francois Gauthier,
senior vice-president for strategy at GHGSat, told the BBC: "It's
important to highlight that satellites are just one piece of the puzzle. But
satellites have a very unique value... that they can come back [and collect
more images] very frequently and they can do so without the need to deploy
people on the ground so they can do so effectively and also affordably."
The company has nine satellites in its constellation, which orbit at 500km overhead, and are some of the highest-resolution devices able to see gases at 25m resolution
The company has recently signed a £5.5m partnership with the UK -
funded by the UK Space Agency - to provide satellite data on methane emissions
to UK organizations such as Ordnance Survey.
The UK Space Agency's CEO,
Dr Paul Bate, said: "Satellites are getting smaller and more powerful,
giving us an ideal vantage point from which to monitor global greenhouse gas
emissions and inform decision-making on the path to Net Zero."
There are still limitations
with the satellites that will need to be developed.
Prof Grant Allen, lecturer
in atmospheric science at the University of Manchester, told the BBC:
"There is still some work to do to fully validate the precise magnitude of
such emissions estimated by satellites like GHGSat, but the capability is
already proving super useful for identifying where big (preventable) sources
may be."
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