Carbon Mapper released the first methane and carbon dioxide (CO₂) detections by the Tanager-1 satellite on October 21, 2024.

A public-private partnership, the project is designed to share methane emissions data globally and actionable on a local scale. The data produced by the satellite that was launched on August 16 and is combined with other observers like survey planes and shared on its data portal. Half of the mapped methane emissions were previously unknown, Carbon Mapper said in a press release.

“With this open portal, you can zoom in to specific sources to see the methane plume and select different dates on which the satellite and algorithms detected it,” said an official at Carbon Mapper.

The survey is currently limited but by the satellites orbit and observations above a certain latitude are not covered by Tanager-1. Currently Europe is not included in the surveys, but the plan to continue to expand its coverage further. The satellite can also not detect methane produced by non-point sources such as rice paddy fields or livestock, but can see man-made emission sources where the concentration of methane is much higher.

Tanager-1 is the first of a series of satellites being developed through a coalition led by Carbon Mapper in partnership with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Planet Labs PBC that is partly funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Carbon Mapper researchers have been refining the algorithms and processes necessary to pinpoint and quantify super-emitting sources of methane and CO₂ quickly. Through these regional pilot surveys, Carbon Mapper found that nearly half of super-emitting events (sources that emit > 100 kg CH₄/h) flagged for state agencies and operators were previously unknown, and once identified were able to be mitigated.

"Detecting and quantifying methane and carbon dioxide detections so quickly with Tanager-1 is a testament to the unique partnership we established. I'm so proud of this outcome after all the hard work by our coalition," said Carbon Mapper CEO Riley Duren.

To make this data accessible and actionable, Carbon Mapper has made all of its methane and CO₂ detections publicly available for non-commercial use on its data portal, a web platform that is updated on an ongoing basis with observations and emissions data from remote sensing sources. 

The Tanager-1 satellite will help counties deliver on the Global Methane Pledge to reduce global methane emissions by 30% by 2030.

“It can also be transformative across major emitting sectors such as energy, waste and agriculture, empowering companies to identify and verify emissions reductions across their supply chains and deliver on stated commitments such as the Oil and Gas Decarbonisation Charter,” Carbon Mapper said in the release.