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California gains second methane-tracking satellite with Thursday launch
A second satellite launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Thursday, allowing Carbon Mapper to check twice as often for climate-heating methane plumes.
California gained a second methane-tracking satellite Thursday with a launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Lompoc. Carbon Mapper, a Pasadena-based nonprofit that partners with the state, can now check twice as often for plumes of the climate-heating gas.
Methane leaks or escapes from landfills, oil and gas equipment and manure pits at dairy operations. Lindsay Buckley, spokesperson for the California Air Resources Board, said the added satellite would allow observations at more locations and more frequent checks at existing locations.
Sensors on the new Tanager-2 detect the invisible gas by measuring wavelengths of light reflected from Earth's surface. Carbon Mapper chief executive Riley Duren said the organization eventually aims to visualize 90 percent of methane emissions around the planet. Its global methane plume data is publicly available with a 30-day lag.
The air board's satellite monitoring can locate methane at the facility level, within 50 meters. The agency receives images within 48 hours and sends notices to landfill and oil and gas operators when escaping methane is detected.