SEE THE WHOLE PICTURE
OF METHANE EMISSIONS
Free, transparent emissions data lands later this year.
Data sneak peeks
Case studies from MethaneAIR flights
The MethaneSAT team has been conducting flights, testing equipment, and gathering methane data with sensors installed on a jet aircraft.
These flights validate, refine and showcase our revolutionary new approach to methane detection and quantification.
We can see not only where methane is coming from, but also how large emissions are and how much is leaking over time.
The first MethaneAIR flights took place over the Permian Basin in August 2021 .
The initial flight covered over 9,000 square miles in just 2.2 hours.
Flights produced oil and gas methane emissions data with greater clarity and speed than ever before.
Now we can quantify emissions over large areas of interest, including the basin and sub-basin level.
Basin Snapshot
Permian Basin
Regional total
91,000 kg/hrLoss rate
2%Area-level Methane Emissions
kg/hr/km2- 0
- 23
Emission sources
- Area emissions: 63% of total
- Point sources: 37% of total
Uinta Basin
Regional total
15,000 kg/hrLoss rate
5.7%Area-level Methane Emissions
kg/hr/km2- 0
- 10
Emission sources
- Area emissions: 87% of total
- Point sources: 13% of total
Large, “super-emitting” point sources aren't the primary contributors to the oilfield methane problem.
A 2022 study revealed that smaller, low-producing wells are responsible for half of the industry's methane pollution from the production sector, and therefore it is critical to quantify total emissions resulting from smaller diffuse area sources as well as high-emitting point sources which together in aggregate helps build a more complete picture of the overall emissions.
Data users can access multiple types of measurements, and deploy solutions in the places where methane volumes are highest.
Explore MethaneAIR data on Google Earth EngineRelated research
Atmospheric Measurement Techniques: Spectral calibration of the MethaneAIR instrument
Developing a spatially explicit global oil and gas infrastructure database for characterizing methane emission sources at high resolution
MethaneAIR: Airborne Imaging Spectrometer Level 2 Ungridded Data
Methane Point Source Quantification Using MethaneAIR: A New Airborne Imaging Spectrometer