Potential of next-generation imaging spectrometers to detect and quantify methane point sources from space

Cusworth, Daniel H.; Jacob, Daniel J.; Varon, Daniel J.; Chan Miller, Christopher; Liu, Xiong; Chance, Kelly; Thorpe, Andrew K.; Duren, Riley M.; Miller, Charles E.; Thompson, David R.; Frankenberg, Christian; Guanter, Luis; Randles, Cynthia A.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5655-2019

Articles | Volume 12, issue 10

Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5655–5668, 2019

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5655-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5655–5668, 2019

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5655-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 12, issue 10

Research article 24 Oct 2019

Research article | 24 Oct 2019

Potential of next-generation imaging spectrometers to detect and quantify methane point sources from space

Daniel H. Cusworth et al.

Data sets

Derivation of scaled surface reflectances from AVIRIS data B. C. Gao, K. H. Heidebrecht, and A. F. H. Goetz https://avirisng.jpl.nasa.gov/alt_locator/

Short summary

We examine the potential for global detection of methane plumes from individual point sources with the new generation of spaceborne imaging spectrometers scheduled for launch in 2019–2025. We perform methane retrievals on simulated scenes with varying surfaces and atmospheric methane concentrations. Our results suggest that imaging spectrometers in space could play a transformative role in the future for quantifying methane emissions from point sources on a global scale.