Authors
Tai-Long He, Daniel J Varon, Shobha Kondragunta, Xinrong Ren, Mark D Cohen, Brian J Carroll, Nathan Malarich, Jeff Peischl, Tobias A de Jong, Jelmar Gerritsen, Joannes D Maasakkers, Daniel H Cusworth, Riley M Duren, Steven S Brown, Carsten Warneke, Colm Sweeney, Phillip Stratton, Alan Brewer, Sunil Baidar, Ezra J T Levin
Published in
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Volume 123. Issue 36. Pages e2603595123. Sep 08, 2026. Epub Sep 01, 2026.
Abstract
We present the results of a Very Large Methane Release (VLMR) experiment evaluating methane retrievals from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) Advanced Baseline Imagers (ABIs) and multiple low-Earth-orbit satellite instruments with high point-source detection thresholds. The experiment coordinated observations of a US gas pipeline blowdown with nine satellites, an aircraft, and a truck-based mobile laboratory. We used the GOES-16, -18, and -19 ABIs with revisits every 10 min to 7 s to quantify release magnitude and associated uncertainty. Best methane retrieval precision of 7% was achieved in the 30-s mesoscale scan modes averaged to 5 min, yielding an estimated methane plume detection threshold of 15 to 30 t h-1 per m s-1 of wind. GOES detected total emissions of 370 ± 30 t over 42 to 63 min from two release points. Source rate and mass estimates are broadly consistent across measurement platforms, but the total detected release mass is ~25% lower than that reported by the operator based on pipeline volume and pressure. This discrepancy may reflect late-stage emissions below satellite detection thresholds and indicates a potential low bias in satellite estimates of total emissions from large transient releases. Coordinated field experiments such as VLMR can complement existing controlled-release satellite evaluation programs by providing a framework to validate observations of very large methane point sources.
PMID:
42679031
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 02 Sep 2026.
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