Methane leaks from oil and gas fields detected from space
Author(s) -
Rosen Julia
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1002/2014eo460010
Subject(s) - natural gas , methane , associated petroleum gas , hydraulic fracturing , boom , fugitive emissions , fossil fuel , petroleum engineering , oil and natural gas , natural gas field , geology , space (punctuation) , directional drilling , astrobiology , environmental science , drilling , greenhouse gas , physics , engineering , chemistry , oceanography , waste management , mechanical engineering , linguistics , philosophy , organic chemistry
A few years ago, while poring over satellite images of the Earth at night, scientists spotted the bright glow of natural gas flares burning in the oil and gas fields that have fueled America's recent energy boom. Now they have spotted something else from space: large plumes of fugitive methane gas liberated from these formations by unconventional extraction methods like horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.