http://arxiv.org/abs/2212.11318
The twin Sentinel-3 satellites have multi-band radiometers which observe at methane-sensitive shortwave infrared bands with daily global coverage and 500 m ground pixel resolution. We investigate the methane observation capability of Sentinel-3 and how its coverage-resolution combination fits between Sentinel-5p and Sentinel-2. We show that methane plume enhancements can be retrieved from the shortwave infrared bands of Sentinel-3. We report a lowest emission detection by Sentinel-3 of 9 t/h under favorable detection conditions of low wind speeds and high surface albedo. We demonstrate Sentinel-3-based identification and monitoring of methane leaks using two case studies. Near Moscow, Sentinel-3 shows that two major short-term leaks separated by 30 km occurred simultaneously at a gas pipeline and appear as a single methane plume in Sentinel-5p data. For a major Sentinel-5p leak detection near the Hassi Messaoud oil/gas field in Algeria, Sentinel-3 identifies the leaking facility emitting continuously for 6 days, and Sentinel-2 pinpoints the source of the leak at an oil/gas well. Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 also show the 6-day leak was followed by a four-month period of burning of the leaking gas, suggesting a gas well blowout to be the cause of the leak. We find similar source rate quantifications from plume detections by Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-2 for these leaks, demonstrating utility of Sentinel-3 for emission quantification. These case studies show that zooming in with Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-2 in synergy allows precise identification and quantification as well as monitoring of the sources corresponding to methane anomalies observed in global scans of Sentinel-5p.
S. Pandey, M. Nistelrooij, J. Maasakkers, et. al.
Fri, 23 Dec 22
25/58
Comments: N/A