Methane is a climate “super pollutant,” causing 30 times more warming per ton than carbon dioxide.
Methane is a climate “super pollutant,” causing 30 times more warming per ton than carbon dioxide. The short-lived but potent greenhouse gas is currently responsible for approximately one third of global warming from all greenhouse gases. Because of methane’s potency, the United States signed the Global Methane Pledge which aims to reduce collective global emissions by 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030.
The first step in reducing emissions is knowing how much is released to the atmosphere. In a new satellite-based analysis, scientists calculated that methane emissions from the contiguous U.S. were higher in 2019 than previously estimated.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assesses human-caused methane emissions by taking inventory of known emissions sources, such as landfills, livestock operations, and oil and gas facilities. These emissions are then reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Satellite observations and atmospheric models provide a way to identify where some of this accounting is potentially too high or low.
Read more at: NASA Earth Observatory
Photo Credit: Michala Garrison/NASA
