NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission has been exceeding expectations over the past year. Launched in July 2022, EMIT was initially designed to map key minerals in arid regions. However, it has since proven to be a valuable tool in tracking methane plumes, surpassing its creators’ predictions, according to NASA. EMIT’s capacity to detect greenhouse gas emissions from space has been particularly impressive, as it has identified over 750 emission sources of methane since its launch.
Robert O. Green, a senior research scientist at JPL and EMIT’s principal investigator, expressed surprise at the number and scale of methane plumes measured by EMIT. The mission’s ability to detect emissions from various scales, ranging from tens of thousands of pounds per hour to mere hundreds, has enabled the identification of “super-emitters,” sources that contribute disproportionately to total emissions, according to NASA.
EMIT’s wide coverage area, orbiting approximately 250 miles above the Earth’s surface on the International Space Station, enables researchers to observe methane plumes in regions previously beyond the reach of airborne instruments. The EMIT science team creates maps of methane plumes and makes them publicly available, providing a valuable resource for addressing greenhouse gas emissions. The findings of the mission were published in the journal Science Advances.
The revelation of EMIT’s unexpected capability and its wide area of coverage has sparked interest and demonstrated its value in detecting and tracking greenhouse gas emissions. As the mission continues, it is expected to provide vital data that will contribute to ongoing efforts to address climate change.
(Photo : OLIVIER MORIN/AFP via Getty Images) This aerial photograph taken on April 18, 2023 in Guadeloupe shows a mangrove forest near Morne-à-l’eau. With rising seas threatening species and the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe is rescuing its neglected mangroves, shoreline shrubs that offer a crucial defense against the ravages of climate change, absorbing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting the levels in the atmosphere that cause global warming.
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