Google will help map global methane emissions from space

New Delhi (Uttam Hindu News): Google has announced a partnership with the non-profit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) to map methane pollution and oil-gas infrastructure from space. The Environmental Defense Fund’s satellite, MethaneSat, will soon orbit Earth to collect satellite data. This data, combined with Google’s AI and infrastructure mapping, will lead to a better understanding of how to reduce methane emissions, the tech giant said in a statement.

2023 was the hottest year on record, and the past 10 years have been the warmest since 1850. “We are announcing a partnership with EDF that combines our science and technology to reduce methane emissions,” said Yale Maguire, VP and general manager of GeoDevelopers and Sustainability at Google. “This is one of the most powerful, short-term actions we can take to reduce warming.”

Methane from human sources is responsible for about 30 percent of global warming today, and a major contributor of methane to the atmosphere comes from extracting fossil fuels such as oil and gas from the Earth. By powering methane detection algorithms with cloud computing and applying AI to satellite imagery to identify oil and gas infrastructure around the world, the goal is to help EDF quantify and trace methane emissions at their source. To do.

“With this information, energy companies, researchers and the public sector can take action to reduce emissions from oil and gas infrastructure faster and more effectively,” Google said. Launching on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in early March, MethaneSat will orbit Earth 15 times a day at an altitude of more than 350 miles. It will measure methane levels in the world’s top oil and gas fields for regular analysis.