“If you're thinking about how fast climate change is happening and how we can slow things down right now, tackling methane is one of the fastest ways we can do this.”
NIWA scientists are gearing up for the launch of a satellite that will measure methane emissions from fossil fuels and agriculture from space.
The launch is part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s MethaneSAT agricultural emissions programme, a global initiative led by the US Environmental Defense Fund to track and reduce methane emissions around the world.
The US project is focused on methane leaks from oil and gas production, while the New Zealand-led programme is studying global emissions from agriculture, such as ruminant farming and rice production.
New Zealand is a perfect test ground for the MethaneSAT agricultural programme because of its an unusual greenhouse gas profile. While carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important greenhouse gas for most developed countries, New Zealand’s biggest source of emissions is methane, largely due to our high levels of agriculture.
The agricultural research programme is a collaboration between experts across New Zealand, including NIWA, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, University of Waikato, and Victoria University of Wellington, and the US based science team at Harvard University, EDF, and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
The project is funded by the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment. Partners RocketLab and the University of Auckland’s Te Pūnaha Ātea-Auckland Space Institute are establishing and operating mission control for the satellite.
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13 фев 2024
