Mapping and Quantifying Fugitive Methane Emission using Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) Imagery

Methane is the second most greenhouse gas, after Carbon Dioxide, which plays an important role in global warming and consequently climate change at global scale. Detecting sources of methane emissions and quantifying the flux of emissions have been always big issues, as there are high uncertainties in each of these two steps. Oil and gas wellheads are one of the sources of anthropogenic methane emissions. Acting on the recent studies over the shale gas activities in the United States of America (USA), there has been big concerns about the amount of fugitive methane emissions from the practice of extracting shale gas. In this study, Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) imagery over Marcellus shale basin in Pennsylvania, USA, was retrieved from Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). By using high-resolution transmission (HITRAN) molecular absorption compilation and database the atmospheric transmittance spectrum was modelled. In order to map and evaluate fugitive methane emissions from shale gas well-heads, MatrixLaboratory (MATLAB) and Environment for Visualizing Images (ENVI) software were used. Finally after mapping and quantifying the amount of fugitive methane emissions, it was concluded that fugitive methane emissions from shale gas wellheads might be considered in normal range as of reported for conventional gas wellheads

Keywords:

Fugitive Methane Emission , Greenhouse Gases , Climate Change , AVIRIS Imagery , Shale Gas