Technology

How do you measure methane – an invisible and odorless gas that is lighter than air? How do you determine where it's coming from and how much is emitted?

There is a growing toolkit of sensors and systems to detect, locate, and quantify methane emissions. Generally, most techniques measure the concentration of methane in the atmosphere and use measurements of wind and other atmospheric properties to locate the sources and quantify the emission rates. Because methane emissions sources are so varied in cities, no single method or technology can be used for all sources.

In CURMET, we use several different types of sensors and measurement platforms: satellite, aircraft, vehicles, e-bikes, fixed sensors, infrared cameras, handheld sniffer, backpack sensors, chambers, and volume samplers.

Satellites

Satellites detect sources emitting large amounts of methane and quantify city-scale emissions rates.

Aircraft

We use these measurements to quantify emissions from large area sources, like an industrial facility or landfill, and city-scale emissions.

Ground robots

We use small ground robots like the one above to measure emissions in hard-to-reach places, help automate data collection, and demonstrate what we do.

Vehicles

We use vehicle-based measurements to quantify known sources and to try to identify (screen) for unknown sources. When we find unknown sources, they are targets for follow-up measurements with other techniques.

Fixed sensors

Scientific-grade, open-path sensors measure methane emissions from facilities and open-area sources.

Chambers

Chambers capture emissions from smaller sources like gas meters and sewers. The technique is relatively simple and can be repeated to track changes in emissions rates over time.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse