{ "id": 5041, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5041/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Methane Emissions in the United States", "description": "2012 methane emissions across the United States. || ch4_epa_sq_2022-11-14_1335.00100_print.jpg (1024x1024) [191.2 KB] || ch4_epa_sq_2022-11-14_1335.00100_searchweb.png (180x320) [57.3 KB] || ch4_epa_sq_2022-11-14_1335.00100_thm.png (80x40) [4.5 KB] || ch4_epa_sq_2022-11-14_1335.mp4 (2160x2160) [23.8 MB] || ch4_epa_sq_2022-11-14_1335.webm (2160x2160) [5.0 MB] || ", "release_date": "2022-12-01T00:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2024-11-19T00:21:33.616388-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 368018, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005000/a005041/ch4_epa_sq_2022-11-14_1335.00100_print.jpg", "filename": "ch4_epa_sq_2022-11-14_1335.00100_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "2012 methane emissions across the United States.", "width": 1024, "height": 1024, "pixels": 1048576 }, "main_video": null, "main_credits": { "Visualizations by": [ { "name": "Mark SubbaRao", "employer": "NASA/GSFC" } ], "Scientific consulting by": [ { "name": "Lesley Ott", "employer": "NASA/GSFC" } ] }, "progress": "Complete", "media_groups": [ { "id": 313399, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5041/#media_group_313399", "widget": "Video player", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "2012 methane emissions across the United States.", "items": [ { "id": 208897, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 368018, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005000/a005041/ch4_epa_sq_2022-11-14_1335.00100_print.jpg", "filename": "ch4_epa_sq_2022-11-14_1335.00100_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "2012 methane emissions across the United States.", "width": 1024, "height": 1024, "pixels": 1048576 } }, { "id": 208898, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 368019, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005000/a005041/ch4_epa_sq_2022-11-14_1335.00100_searchweb.png", "filename": "ch4_epa_sq_2022-11-14_1335.00100_searchweb.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "\nMethane is the second most important greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. While emissions are substantially lower than for carbon dioxide, the biggest driver of climate change, methane is more efficient at trapping heat on a molecule by molecule basis. As a result, understanding the sources of methane and how they can be reduced, quickly, is a major effort of policymakers and environmental managers around the world.\r\n\r\nThis visualization presents gridded methane emissions across the United States for the year 2012. The gridded methane inventory is designed to be consistent with EPA’s 2016 Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks for the year 2012, which presents national totals for different source types. Gridded estimates with 0.1 degree spatial resolution are produced using a wide range of databases at the state, county, local, and point source level to allocate the spatial and temporal distribution of emissions for individual source types. 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Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas contributing to climate change. While emissions are substantially lower than for carbon dioxide, the biggest driver of climate change, methane is more efficient at trapping heat on a molecule by molecule basis. As a result, understanding the sources of methane and how they can be reduced, quickly, is a major effort of policymakers and environmental managers around the world.\r
\r
This visualization presents gridded methane emissions across the United States for the year 2012. The gridded methane inventory is designed to be consistent with EPA’s 2016 Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks for the year 2012, which presents national totals for different source types. Gridded estimates with 0.1 degree spatial resolution are produced using a wide range of databases at the state, county, local, and point source level to allocate the spatial and temporal distribution of emissions for individual source types. Gridded inventories, developed with support from NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System, help researchers use satellite, airborne, and in situ observations to independently evaluate EPA inventories and provide recommendations on refinements that may be needed. Additional detail and dataset access are available at the EPA website.\r
\r
The gridded inventory presents totals for different major methane source types. Agriculture emissions in this visualization include manure management, enteric fermentation, rice cultivation, and field burning. Waste emissions include landfills, wastewater treatment, and composting. Natural Gas emissions include emissions from production, processing, and transmission. Coal emissions include both active and abandoned coal mines.", "items": [], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 313401, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5041/#media_group_313401", "widget": "Single image", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "Chart showing the percentages of 2012 methane emissions by sector.", "items": [ { "id": 208901, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 368021, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005000/a005041/donut.png", "filename": "donut.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Chart showing the percentages of 2012 methane emissions by sector.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } ], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 313402, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5041/#media_group_313402", "widget": "Single image", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "Color map of the 2012 US methane emissions visualization.", "items": [ { "id": 208902, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 368022, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005000/a005041/legend.png", "filename": "legend.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Color map of the 2012 US methane emissions visualization.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } ], "extra_data": {} } ], "studio": "svs", "funding_sources": [ "ESE" ], "credits": [ { "role": "Visualizer", "people": [ { "name": "Mark SubbaRao", "employer": "NASA/GSFC" } ] }, { "role": "Scientist", "people": [ { "name": "Lesley Ott", "employer": "NASA/GSFC" } ] }, { "role": "Technical support", "people": [ { "name": "Laurence Schuler", "employer": "ADNET Systems, Inc." }, { "name": "Ian Jones", "employer": "ADNET Systems, Inc." } ] }, { "role": "Web administrator", "people": [ { "name": "Ella Kaplan", "employer": "Global Science and Technology, Inc." } ] } ], "missions": [], "series": [], "tapes": [], "papers": [ "A Gridded National Inventory of U.S. Methane Emissions, Maasakkers et. al. 2016", "A Gridded National Inventory of U.S. Methane Emissions, Maasakkers et. al. 2016" ], "datasets": [ { "name": "Gridded 2012 U.S. Methane Emissions", "common_name": "Gridded 2012 U.S. Methane Emissions", "platform": null, "sensor": null, "type": "Data Compilation", "organizations": [ "EPA" ], "description": "A gridded inventory of US anthropogenic methane emissions with 0.1° × 0.1° spatial resolution, monthly temporal resolution, and detailed scale-dependent error characterization. The inventory is designed to be consistent with the 2016 US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Inventory of US Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks (GHGI) for 2012.", "credit": "Maasakkers et. al. 2016", "url": "https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/gridded-2012-methane-emissions", "date_range": null } ], "nasa_science_categories": [ "Earth" ], "keywords": [ "Climate Change", "EPA", "Greenhouse Gases", "Hyperwall", "Methane" ], "recommended_pages": [], "related": [ { "id": 5389, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5389/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Tracking methane with EMIT and AVIRIS-3", "description": "Methane plumes can now be detected using the airborne AVIRIS-3 spectrometer in addition to EMIT on the International Space Station.", "release_date": "2024-11-14T00:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2024-11-19T15:14:39.511245-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 1138836, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005300/a005389/AVIRIS_NewMexico_100823_1920x1080.jpg", "filename": "AVIRIS_NewMexico_100823_1920x1080.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Methane plume detected by airborne AVIRIS-3 spectrometer.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 5272, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5272/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Methane plumes detected by EMIT Space Mission", "description": "The Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) mission uses an imaging spectrometer to detect the unique pattern of reflected and absorbed light – called a spectral fingerprint – from various materials on Earth's surface and in its atmosphere. Perched on the International Space Station, EMIT was originally intended to map the prevalence of minerals in Earth's arid regions, such as the deserts of Africa and Australia. Scientists verified that EMIT could also detect the spectral fingerprints of methane and carbon dioxide which enables mapping of emissions from the energy, waste, and agriculture sectors. || ", "release_date": "2024-05-21T08:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2024-09-17T10:43:40.204188-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 1092449, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005200/a005272/California_3840x2160_print.jpg", "filename": "California_3840x2160_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "A region of enhanced methane is visible near Modesto, California. This version of the data visualization includes location label.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 5118, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5118/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Trends in atmospheric Methane (CH₄)", "description": "Global trends in atmospheric Methane (CH₄) for the period July 1983-December 2022. || CH4Trends_1920x1080p30.00900_print.jpg (1024x576) [64.5 KB] || CH4Trends_1920x1080p30.00900.png (1920x1080) [766.2 KB] || CH4Trends_1920x1080p30.00900_searchweb.png (320x180) [26.3 KB] || CH4Trends_1920x1080p30.00900_thm.png (80x40) [3.5 KB] || CH4_Trends_1920x1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [4.4 MB] || 1920x1080_16x9_30p (1920x1080) [0 Item(s)] || CH4Trends_1920x1080p30.00900.exr (1920x1080) [1.7 MB] || ", "release_date": "2023-06-20T22:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-06-23T00:15:56.469642-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 856225, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005100/a005118/CH4Trends_1920x1080p30.00900.png", "filename": "CH4Trends_1920x1080p30.00900.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Global trends in atmospheric Methane (CH₄) for the period July 1983-December 2022.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 5116, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5116/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "Global Atmospheric Methane (CH₄)", "description": "Volumetric visualization of the total Methane (CH₄) on a global scale added on Earth's atmosphere over the course of the year 2021. || TotalCH4_Comp_1920x19020p30_00080.png (1920x1920) [2.5 MB] || TotalCH4_Comp_1920x19020p30_00080_print.jpg (1024x1024) [114.9 KB] || VolumetricCH4_Composite (1920x1920) [0 Item(s)] || VolumetricCH4_Composite_1920x19020p30.mp4 (1920x1920) [353.5 MB] || ", "release_date": "2023-06-20T16:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2025-03-16T23:03:25.999759-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 856165, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005100/a005116/TotalCH4_Volume_1920x1920.00080.png", "filename": "TotalCH4_Volume_1920x1920.00080.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This visualization shows the total methane on a global scale added on Earth's atmosphere over the course of the year 2021.", "width": 1920, "height": 1920, "pixels": 3686400 } }, { "id": 14257, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14257/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Methane Emissions from Wetlands", "description": "Complete transcript available.Methane is an important greenhouse gas that contributes substantially to global warming. On a molecule by molecule basis, methane is much more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the main driver of warming. Though human activities, including agriculture, oil and natural gas production and use, and waste disposal, collectively contribute the majority of methane to the atmosphere, about a third of total methane emissions comes from wetlands. Wetland habitats are filled with things like waterlogged soils and permafrost, which makes them sizable carbon sinks. However, as the climate changes, these carbon-rich soils are vulnerable to flooding and to rising temperatures, which can release more carbon to the atmosphere in the form of methane. Understanding methane emissions from natural sources like wetlands is critically important to scientists and policymakers who are working to ensure that changes in natural systems don’t counteract progress in combatting climate change made by reducing emissions from human activities.This animation shows estimates of wetland methane emissions produced by the Lund–Potsdam–Jena Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (LPJ-DGVM) Wald Schnee und Landscaft version (LPJ-wsl). LPJ-wsl is a prognostic model, meaning that it can be used to simulate future changes in wetland emissions and independently verified with remote sensing data products. The model includes a complex, topography dependent model of near surface hydrology, and a permafrost and dynamic snow model, allowing it to produce realistic distributions of inundated areas. Highlighted areas show concentrated methane sources from tropical and high latitude ecosystems. The LPJ-wsl model is regularly used in conjunction with NASA’s GEOS model to simulate the impact of wetlands and other methane sources on atmospheric methane concentrations, compare against satellite and airborne data, and to improve understanding and prediction of wetland emissions. Music credit: “Emerging Wave” from Universal Production Music || Screen_Shot_2022-12-09_at_1.10.12_PM_print.jpg (1024x571) [117.6 KB] || Screen_Shot_2022-12-09_at_1.10.12_PM.jpg (875x488) [108.8 KB] || Screen_Shot_2022-12-09_at_1.10.12_PM_searchweb.png (320x180) [57.3 KB] || Screen_Shot_2022-12-09_at_1.10.12_PM_web.png (320x178) [56.0 KB] || Screen_Shot_2022-12-09_at_1.10.12_PM_thm.png (80x40) [6.1 KB] || Methane.mp_Wetalnds_Final.mp4 (1920x1080) [74.1 MB] || Methane.mp_Wetalnds_Final.webm (1920x1080) [14.8 MB] || Sound_otter_ai.en_US.srt [2.5 KB] || Sound_otter_ai.en_US.vtt [2.5 KB] || ", "release_date": "2022-12-14T12:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T11:43:48.553059-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 367871, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014200/a014257/Screen_Shot_2022-12-09_at_1.10.12_PM_print.jpg", "filename": "Screen_Shot_2022-12-09_at_1.10.12_PM_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Complete transcript available.Methane is an important greenhouse gas that contributes substantially to global warming. On a molecule by molecule basis, methane is much more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, the main driver of warming. Though human activities, including agriculture, oil and natural gas production and use, and waste disposal, collectively contribute the majority of methane to the atmosphere, about a third of total methane emissions comes from wetlands. Wetland habitats are filled with things like waterlogged soils and permafrost, which makes them sizable carbon sinks. However, as the climate changes, these carbon-rich soils are vulnerable to flooding and to rising temperatures, which can release more carbon to the atmosphere in the form of methane. Understanding methane emissions from natural sources like wetlands is critically important to scientists and policymakers who are working to ensure that changes in natural systems don’t counteract progress in combatting climate change made by reducing emissions from human activities.\r\rThis animation shows estimates of wetland methane emissions produced by the Lund–Potsdam–Jena Dynamic Global Vegetation Model (LPJ-DGVM) Wald Schnee und Landscaft version (LPJ-wsl). LPJ-wsl is a prognostic model, meaning that it can be used to simulate future changes in wetland emissions and independently verified with remote sensing data products. The model includes a complex, topography dependent model of near surface hydrology, and a permafrost and dynamic snow model, allowing it to produce realistic distributions of inundated areas. Highlighted areas show concentrated methane sources from tropical and high latitude ecosystems. The LPJ-wsl model is regularly used in conjunction with NASA’s GEOS model to simulate the impact of wetlands and other methane sources on atmospheric methane concentrations, compare against satellite and airborne data, and to improve understanding and prediction of wetland emissions. \rMusic credit: “Emerging Wave” from Universal Production Music", "width": 1024, "height": 571, "pixels": 584704 } } ], "sources": [], "products": [ { "id": 14568, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14568/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Tracking the Greenhouse Gas Methane, Earth Information Center Videos", "description": "Full 8K resolution. Optimized for Earth Information Center display.Universal Production Music: \"Passing By\" by Miguel D'Oliveira, \"Simple Story\" by Fred Dubois, and \"Whispers of Hope\" by Sam Connelly, This video can be freely shared and downloaded. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, some individual imagery provided by Pond5 and The Raleigh Drone Company is obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines/index.html || GHGMain.png (7680x2160) [5.4 MB] || GHGMain_print.jpg (1024x288) [68.0 KB] || GHGMain_searchweb.png (320x180) [64.0 KB] || GHGMain_thm.png (80x40) [6.8 KB] || GHG.en_US.srt [4.0 KB] || GHG.en_US.vtt [3.8 KB] || GHG_Main_7680x2160.mp4 (7680x2160) [586.6 MB] || GHG_Main.mp4 (7680x2160) [1.1 GB] || GHG_Main_h.264.mov (7680x2160) [1.1 GB] || ", "release_date": "2024-04-18T00:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2024-11-17T23:29:39.213467-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 1091163, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a014500/a014568/GHGMain_print.jpg", "filename": "GHGMain_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Full 8K resolution. Optimized for Earth Information Center display.Universal Production Music: \"Passing By\" by Miguel D'Oliveira, \"Simple Story\" by Fred Dubois, and \"Whispers of Hope\" by Sam Connelly, This video can be freely shared and downloaded. While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, some individual imagery provided by Pond5 and The Raleigh Drone Company is obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. For more information on NASA’s media guidelines, visit https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/guidelines/index.html", "width": 1024, "height": 288, "pixels": 294912 } } ], "newer_versions": [], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [] }