NASA to investigate ‘Four Corners’ methane mystery

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck

Scientific investigators from NASA, the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences in Colorado and several other institutions are joining forces to investigate a mysterious methane hotspot located in the Four Corners regions of the southwestern US.

Using a suite of both airborne and ground-based instruments, they are hoping to find out why a small area near the intersection of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah was found last fall to be giving off the highest concentration of the greenhouse gas anywhere in America.

NASA to use spectrometers to aid ongoing research

Christian Frankenberg, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, was among those who first reported the methane concentration at the Four Corners region. Data from an ESA satellite confirmed the discovery, and showed that there was a persistent atmospheric hot spot there where methane emissions from 2003-2009 were far higher than estimated.

However, those observations were not detailed enough to reveal the source of the methane, the US space agency said. Possible sources include venting from oil- and gas-related activities (such as coalbed methane exploration and extraction), active coal mines and natural gas seeps.

Recently, researchers from CIRES, the NOAA’s Earth Systems Research Laboratory and the University of Michigan launched a field campaign known as TOPDOWN (Twin Otter Projects Defining Oil Well and Natural gas emissions) 2015. TOPDOWN is using airborne and ground-based instruments to investigate possible sources of the hot spot, and starting on April 17, JPL scientists will be joining the research initiative.

“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,” explained Frankenberg. His team will be using two complementary remote sensing instruments on a pair of Twin Otter research aircraft: one spectrometer that will map the entire region and a second which will be flown over suspected methane sources for more sensitive measurements.

Coordinated methane investigation is a “win-win”

One of the mission’s investigators, Eric Kort from the University of Michigan, called the project a “grassroots effort… to better understand methane emissions from the Four Corners” through a wide array of different methods. Each partner agency has and will be deploying its own suite of instruments, including chemical detection equipment and wind profiling arrays.

By combining their efforts the investigators said that they hope to quantify the overall methane emissions in the region, as well as pinpoint the exact amount being contributed by various sources and track changes over the course of the one-month study. Frankenberg called the study “a win-win for all participants. It is a unique opportunity to characterize the region’s methane budget using both remote sensing and local measurements in a coordinated effort.”

“If we can verify the methane emissions found by the satellite, and identify the various sources, then decision-makers will have critical information for any actions they are considering,” added Gabrielle Pétron, a scientist at CIRES and the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory.

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