It is the chief component of natural gas. Methane, the second-most abundant greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, accounts for roughly a quarter of global warming since the industrial revolution, according to NASA. Many nations have yet to live up to the promises they made when they forged the Paris climate accord in 2015 - pledges that climate negotiators say are already too low to limit catastrophic warming. The satellite revelations could further complicate a critical United Nations climate summit in Scotland in November, known as COP26, where world leaders will face pressure to slash greenhouse gas emissions. “The atmosphere doesn’t lie,” said Daniel Jacob, an atmospheric scientist at Harvard University who uses satellite measurements to try to interpret the world’s methane emissions. That information can help officials hold the polluting companies accountable or expose governments that hide or ignore dangerous emissions that are warming the world. Satellites can provide real time evidence of massive, unreported methane leaks - and who is responsible for them. These sentinels in the sky are auguring an era of data transparency as their patrons seek to safeguard the planet by closing the gap between the amount of methane that scientists know is in the atmosphere versus what is reported from the ground - industry by industry, pipeline by pipeline, leak by leak. Now, new satellites devoted to locating and measuring greenhouse gases are orbiting Earth, with more on the way. Many countries and companies have long misrepresented or simply miscounted how much fossil fuel-based methane they have let escape into the air. The episode reflects a fundamental shift in climate politics. There he saw a deep gash and tire tracks over an area half a football field in size, flanked by yellow signs warning of underground pipelines between stands of trees. But a Washington Post photographer, using satellite imagery and tracking GPS coordinates, found a likely spot an hour’s walk from the nearest public roadway, 490 miles east of Moscow.
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