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Carbon Mapper's footage of bright red methane plumes scattered across a grayish-violet backdrop look like angry canker sores from a distance. But the aerial footage, taken from 10,000 ft above ground, offers exactly the kind of visual evidence that Riley Duren, the chief executive officer of Carbon Mapper, hopes that US policymakers will pay attention to when considering the role satellite communications can play in mitigating climate change. The nonprofit organization, formed as a public/private partnership between the state of California, satellite provider Planet, and NASA, uses satellite technology to track methane leaks and CO2 point-source emissions. "Oil and gas companies that have reviewed our data indicate that at least half of the methane super emitters that were detected are the result of leaks and malfunctions that were previously unknown," he told policymakers during an 18 May virtual congressional hearing on climate change, hosted by the US House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. "The idea here is that a high-fidelity low constellation of satellites could offer daily facility-scale methane monitoring over key regions globally to alert operators and regulators of leaks for more timely and cost-effective repairs."
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