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Narrator: Methane shows up nearly everywhere on our planet. It can come from a variety of
sources, like wetlands, fossil fuels, and even livestock. These diverse sources add
to the challenge of tracking this potent greenhouse gas. A molecule of methane is
able to trap more heat than a CO2 molecule. In fact, it is the second
leading gas that is contributing to climate change, and since the Industrial
Revolution, global methane concentrations have doubled.
Benjamin Poulter: It's contributed roughly 20 to 30 percent of the climate change that we've
experienced to date, and so there's an urgency in understanding where the
sources are coming from, so that we can be better prepared to mitigate methane
emissions where there are opportunities to do so.
Narrator: By using a combination of field
observations, airborne surveys, and data from international partners, NASA has
been able to create a new model of the sources and global transport of methane.
This model allows scientists to track the global methane budget and better
understand the changes over time.
Lesley Ott: Everything around methane tends to be a
few years behind carbon dioxide. So, we're just catching up to how important and
how dynamic methane is as a greenhouse gas. We see these pulses of methane in
different places, and when we look deeper, we understand that those pulses are
occurring for different reasons. So, we might see wetlands in one region, we
might see industrial pollution in another area.
Narrator: With this new model, we can
track the pulses of methane across the globe to better pinpoint the conditions
and activities that may cause them.
Benjamin Poulter: Methane is a difficult gas for us to
understand, given the diversity of sources, and then how the sources and the
emissions get transported throughout the atmosphere. The 3D simulation that we
produced here helps us better put together the entire story for the
sources of methane and as well as its removal from the atmosphere.
Narrator: By taking a
look at the story of methane, scientists and policy makers can better understand
the sources of methane emissions and work to reduce this greenhouse gas.
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