GRSG 34th Conference 2023

Title: The Use of Hyperspectral Imagery for the Identification and Quantification of Methane

Author: Kevin Goldsmith

Abstract:

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is emitted from a variety of anthropogenic activities and natural processes. Over the years, several hyperspectral sensors (TROPOMI, PRISMA, and GHGsat) with spectral channels in the 400-2500nm spectral range and spatial resolution between 0.03-7km have been used to detect and quantify small to large scale methane.

This study evaluates the potential of PRISMA hyperspectral dataset for methane mapping. We applied a data-driven matched-filter approach with albedo correction in the 2300nm spectral region to detect methane plume at a 30m spatial resolution and retrieve its concentration in parts per million per meter (ppmXm). For each detected plume, we calculated its emission flux. The performance of our plume detection is demonstrated using the knowledge of a gas well blowout reported at Eagle Ford shale near Victoria, Texas.

A comparative analysis was also performed using the state-of-the-arts detection results of real plume at various methane hotspot regions. Our study reports the advantage of PRISMA for methane detection and suggest that our methane detection approach will be possible with future satellite sensors like EnMAP.