Satellites have transformed our understanding of the Earth’s natural systems and how human activity impacts them. Examples are forest cover and deforestation, weather and extreme events, air pollution, and freshwater availability, among many others. Recent developments have extended the power of satellite data to a critical climate issue: the detection of methane plumes, those concentrated releases of methane gas (CH4) into the atmosphere that form detectable clouds. Satellite plume detection is important in greenhouse gas abatement because methane accounts for about 30% of total anthropogenic global warming.1
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) developed the Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), a global platform that obtains and standardizes methane plume data from nearly a dozen satellites and space sensors.2 The satellite data measure plumes from three major sources:
–Waste: Decomposing organic waste (food scraps, paper, yard waste) generates biogenic methane through anaerobic bacterial activity. Older, poorly managed landfills tend to have higher emissions, and open dumps common in some developing countries emit methane directly into the air. The anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge generates methane, including digesters and open-air treatment lagoons. In the agricultural sector, decomposing manure from livestock operations releases methane, including anaerobic liquid manure lagoons.
–Oil and gas operations: Methane emissions from oil and gas take the form of fugitive emissions, venting, and flaring.
–Coal mining operations: Methane emissions from coal occur during the extraction of coal, the collapse of surrounding strata in underground mines, and when it is purposely vented from mines for safety reasons.
From 2022 through 2024 the satellites cataloged about 8200 methane plumes in 61 countries with flux (emission) rates ranging from less than 0.1 to 850 metric tons per hour.
Country shares of methane emissions detected by plumes reveal some interesting patterns. Not surprisingly, major oil and gas producers such as the United States and Russia are large methane emitters. But what explains Turkmenistan’s position as the leading source of methane emissions as detected by the satellite data? Most of the facilities leaking the methane are owned by Turkmenoil, the national oil company. The natural gas fields rely on aging and inefficient infrastructure from the Soviet-era that is prone to leaks. Considerable quantities of natural gas are directly vented to the atmosphere in the form of methane rather than being flared, which converts the methane into carbon dioxide emissions.3
Satellites revealed a wide range of methane emissions sources in the United States. NASA satellites were the first to identify the creation of methane emission hotspots from fires in the Alaskan tundra that released methane previously trapped in permafrost.4 Satellite imaging of four large Southeast landfills suggested that methane emissions are much larger than reported to government regulatory agencies.5 Satellite data also revealed that the Permian basin, located in Texas and New Mexico, and other oil and gas producing regions were major sources of methane emissions.6
Methane plumes from the oil and gas supply chain accounted for about 57 percent of the methane in plumes detected by satellites in 2024. The 2593 plumes detected in the oil and gas sector released about 34,000 metric tons of methane per hour. The waste sector accounted for about 32 percent of emissions, while the coal mining sector accounted for the remaining 11 percent.
The average rate of methane emissions from waste facilities is nearly three times higher than from coal and oil and gas facilities. This occurs because the breakdown of food waste, yard waste, and sewage sludge in landfills, wastewater treatment plants, and manure lagoons generates a relatively steady stream of methane. Waste facilities cover large areas, allowing methane to escape over wide surface areas. Wastewater lagoons and manure storage facilities often lack effective methane capture systems, leading to uncontrolled emissions into the atmosphere. Even when landfills have collection systems, they do not capture 100% of the methane.
In contrast, methane leaks from oil and gas operations tend to be point sources from wellheads, pipelines, and compressor stations. The more localized nature of these emissions makes them easier to control. Some oil and gas leaks are detected and repaired due to regulatory requirements and the financial incentive to capture a valuable commodity. Such economic incentives and regulations are less common in the waste sector.
“Super emitters” dominate the satellite-detected methane emissions.7 These are sources in the oil and gas, waste, and coal sectors that have disproportionately large methane flux rates. There were 3946 plumes detected in 2024. The 50 largest plumes—1.3 percent of the total—accounted for 18 percent of the total flux rate. About half of the top 50 are waste sources that are highly concentrated in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India. The other half of the top 50 are oil and gas sources that are highly concentrated in Turkmenistan, the United States, and Russia.
The ability of satellites to pinpoint sources of methane enables government regulators and the public to identify individual sites and facilities and hold the responsible parties accountable.8 Accurate detection and attribution of super emitters offers the potential to mitigate emissions from these especially important sources.
1 Smith, C., et al., 2021, “The Earth’s Energy Budget, Climate Feedbacks, and Climate Sensitivity Supplementary Material. In Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (V. Masson-Delmotte, V. et al. (eds.), available from https://www.ipcc.ch/.
2 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), accessed February 14, 2025, https://www.unep.org/topics/energy/methane/international-methane-emissions-observatory/methane-alert-and-response-system
3 Carrington, Damian, “‘Mind-boggling’ methane emissions from Turkmenistan revealed,” The Guardian, Tue 9 May 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/09/mind-boggling-methane-emissions-from-turkmenistan-revealed.
4 National Aeronautics and Space Administration, “NASA Flights Link Methane Plumes to Tundra Fires in Western Alaska,” November 1, 2023, https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/jpl/nasa-flights-link-methane-plumes-to-tundra-fires-in-western-alaska/#:~:text=In%20Alaska’s%20largest%20river%20delta,permafrost%20for%20thousands%20of%20years.
5 Balasus, Nicholas , Daniel J. Jacob, Gabriel Maxemin, Carrie Jenks, Hannah Nesser, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Daniel H. Cusworth, Tia R. Scarpelli, Daniel J. Varon, Xiaolin Wang, “Satellite monitoring of annual US landfill methane emissions and trends, arXiv:2408.10957, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2408.10957
6 Irakulis-Loitxate, Itziar, Luis Guanter, Yin-Nian Liu, Daniel J. Varon, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Yuzhong Zhang, Apisada Chulakadabba, et al. “Satellite-Based Survey of Extreme Methane Emissions in the Permian Basin.” Science Advances 7, no. 27 (June 30, 2021): eabf4507. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abf4507.
7 Lorente, et al. “Automated Detection and Monitoring of Methane Super-Emitters Using Satellite Data.” Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 23, no. 16 (September 19, 2023): 9071–98. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9071-2023.
8 O’Callaghan, Jonathan. “Tracking Methane Super-Emitters from Space.” Nature, November 6, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03594-w.