Methane leaks from oil and gas infrastructure in Turkmenistan last year had a bigger impact on global warming than the carbon emissions of the entire UK, new satellite data shows.
Environmental intelligence firm Kayrros analyzed data from a network of satellites that track methane emissions around the world.
It told The protector that fossil fuel fields near the Caspian Seaport city of Hazar in Turkmenistan emitted 2.6 million tons of methane last year, while infrastructure in the east of the country emitted 1.8 million tons.
Although the amount of methane released by these fields in 2022 – 4.4 million tonnes – is relatively small compared to the UK’s CO2 emissions, methane is more than 80 times more potent at trapping heat in our atmosphere than carbon dioxide.
Together, the two fields generated methane emissions equivalent to 366 million tonnes of CO2 last year – more than 30 million tonnes more than the UK’s total estimated carbon emissions for 2022.
The UK emitted 331.5 million tonnes of CO2 last year, a 2.4 percent reduction from 2021, according to preliminary figures Government data.
East of Hazar, Turkmenistan – a port city on the Caspian Sea – 12 methane plumes flow west. The plumes were detected by NASA’s EMIT mission and some extend over 20 miles
NASA’s Earth Surface Mineral Dust Investigation, or “EMIT” (pictured), is a space spectrometer that measures solar energy reflected from Earth in hundreds of wavelengths of light from the visible to the infrared range
Launched last July and docked with the International Space Station (pictured), the EMIT imaging spectrometer now orbits the Earth once every 90 minutes
Kayrros president Antoine Rostand told The Guardian that management of methane emissions was extremely poor and called for a crackdown on the problem.
‘Methane is responsible for almost half of the short term [climate] warming and has been absolutely unmanaged until now — it was completely out of control,” Rostand said.
“We know where the super emitters are and who’s doing it – we just need the policymakers and investors to do their job, which is to curb methane emissions.” There is no comparable action in terms of [reducing] climate effects in the short term.’
Other sources, including those from Turkmenistan, told The Guardian that the impact of the methane emissions was “mind-boggling” and “annoying” because they are relatively easy to fix.
It comes as a NASA monitoring device has determined that Turkmenistan is one of the worst ‘super emitters’ of methane in the world.
Earth Surface Mineral Dust Investigation (EMIT) from the space agency is a spectrometer in space that measures solar energy reflected from the Earth in hundreds of wavelengths of light from the visible to the infrared range.
Its purpose is primarily to advance studies of airborne dust and its effects on climate change, but NASA scientists can also use the device to detect areas where significant amounts of methane are produced.
The newly measured methane hot spots — some already known and others newly discovered — include vast oil and gas installations and large landfills.
“Some of the (methane) plumes detected by EMIT are among the largest ever seen — unlike anything ever seen from space,” said Andrew Thorpe, a NASA research technologist who is leading the methane studies.
‘What we have found in a short time now exceeds all our expectations.’
Methane is a greenhouse gas that can trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere.
During the day, the sun shines through the atmosphere and warms the planet’s surface, while at night it cools down and returns heat to the air.
However, greenhouse gases can trap some of this hot air, resulting in the warming of the planet.
Methane has more than 80 times the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide for the first 20 years after it reaches the atmosphere.
While this decreases over time as it breaks down, it means emissions have a more direct impact on global warming.
NASA’s EMIT mission detected a methane plume two miles southeast of Carlsbad, New Mexico. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is much more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide
A methane plume at least three miles long billows into the atmosphere south of Tehran, Iran. The plume, detected by NASA’s EMIT mission, comes from a large landfill, where methane is a by-product of decomposition
The cube (left) shows methane plumes (purple, orange, yellow) over Turkmenistan. The rainbow colors are the spectral fingerprints of corresponding spots in the front image. The blue line in the graph (right) shows the detected methane fingerprint EMIT; the red line is the expected fingerprint based on an atmospheric simulation
Launched in July this year and docked to the International Space Station, the EMIT imaging spectrometer now orbits the Earth about 250 miles above us every 90 minutes.
Operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), it is capable of scanning vast swathes of the planet tens of kilometers across, while also targeting areas as small as a football field.
So far, EMIT has identified more than 50 superemitters in Central Asia, the Middle East and the Southwestern United States.
Examples of methane super emitters on display by JPL include a cluster of 12 plumes from Turkmenistan’s oil and gas infrastructure.
Scientists estimate that these plumes collectively spew methane at a rate of 111,000 pounds per hour, comparable to the peak flow of 110,000 pounds per hour from the 2015 Aliso Canyon gas field eruption.
According to Kayrros, many of the leaks from oil and gas facilities can be prevented simply by ensuring the facilities are properly maintained, repairing leaking valves and pipes and replacing worn parts.
Another major emitter is New Mexico’s Permian Basin oil field – one of the largest oil fields in the world – which generated a plume about two miles long.
The third culprit revealed by NASA is a waste processing complex south of Tehran, Iran, which emits a plume at least three miles long. Methane is a by-product of decomposition and landfills can be a major source.
Scientists estimate flow rates of about 40,300 pounds per hour at the Permian site and 18,700 pounds per hour at the Iran site.
JPL officials said neither was previously known to scientists.
“These results are exceptional and demonstrate the value of combining a global-scale perspective with the resolution necessary to identify methane point sources, down to the facility scale,” said David Thompson, instrument scientist at EMIT and senior researcher at JPL .
“It’s a unique capability that will raise the bar for efforts to allocate methane resources and reduce emissions from human activities.”
Robert Green, EMIT’s principal investigator at JPL, said: ‘As it continues to survey the planet, EMIT will observe places where no one previously thought to look for greenhouse gas emitters, and it will find plumes that no one expects.’
NASA says EMIT could potentially find hundreds of previously unknown methane superemitters.
“Limiting methane emissions is key to limiting global warming,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
“This exciting new development will not only help researchers better pinpoint where methane leaks are coming from, but also provide insight into how to quickly address them.”