I Wonder How Accurate These Methane Surveys Are?

Cool if it works, but does it work?:

SANTA FE – A pollution survey using sensors on small airplanes to detect methane emissions across a major U.S. oil and natural gas production zone points to greater releases of the potent climate-warming gas than previously estimated by other methods, according to results published Wednesday. 

Underwritten by philanthropists and the fossil fuel industry, the study examined emissions from October 2018 through January 2020 across New Mexico’s portion of the Permian Basin, one of the world’s largest sources of oil and natural gas that extends into West Texas. 

The study estimated that methane emissions are equivalent to roughly 9% of the overall gas production in the surveyed area. That’s more than double the rate in several previous studies of the Permian Basin and national estimates by the U.S. government of natural gas lost to leaks and releases. 

“The bad news is that emissions in this time and this region were as high as they are,” said Evan Sherwin, co-author of the study and a research fellow at Stanford University’s department of energy resource engineering. “The good news is it was only about 1,000 sites out of 26,000 active wells. … It’s just a few percent that were emitting during this extensive study.” 

...Climate scientists have warned that without immediate and steep reductions in emissions of carbon dioxide and methane, the world will miss its chance to avert the most destructive and deadliest effects of climate change.