NASA researchers have joined scientists from a variety of other institutions to try to solve the mystery of the four-corners methane hot-spot.
Last fall it was discovered that a small area near the Four Corners intersection of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico was producing the highest concentrations of methane of any part of the United States. A European Space Agency (ESA) satellite showed that the hot spot had ben persistent between 2003 and 2009.
The 2,500 square miles area produces an estimated 10 percent of the methane in the United States.
However, satellite data did not contain enough detail to determine the actual sources of the methane.
Researchers are now using a broad array of ground-based and airborne equipment to try to find out what is going on in the desert of the U.S. Southwest.
“With all the ground-based and airborne resources that the different groups are bringing to the region, we have the unique chance to unequivocally solve the Four Corners mystery,” said Christian Frankenberg, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, California, in a statement.
Frankenberg is leading NASA’s side of the investigation. Other agencies and organizations participating in the search include the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) in Boulder, Colorado and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Scientists from the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado, Boulder, the state of New Mexico and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management are also working on the problem.
Based on activity in the region, likely sources of the greenhouse gas emissions include venting from oil and gas exploration and extraction in the region. Natural gas is 95 to 98 percent methane, which makes gas operations a good place to look.
Researchers from JPL will use two Twin Otter research aircraft to fly two remote sensing instruments over the area. The Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRISng) observes spectra of reflected sunlight and will be used to create a higher resolution map of the region’s methane output.
After sites are selected using information from AVIRISng and ground based information from other teams, the JPL team will then turn to the the Hyperspectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (HyTES). That instrument will be flown over the areas with the highest concentrations of methane to further narrow the search.
According to NASA “it can create a mosaic showing how methane levels vary every few feet, enabling the identification of individual sources.”
Using the combined satellite, air and ground data of all of the agencies and institutions involved the researchers hope to be able to quantify the methane emissions and pinpoint the exact sources.
“If we can verify the methane detected by the satellite and identify its sources, decision-makers will have critical information for any actions they are considering,” said Gabrielle Pétron of CIRES.
President Barack Obama’s Climate Action Plan calls for reductions in methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Reducing large amounts of emissions from a small, sparsely populated area would seem like an easy place to do this.
