Daily Global Methane Super-Emitter Detection and Source Identification With Sub-Daily Tracking

(Geophysical Research Letters)

Mitigating large, concentrated methane emissions such as gas leaks is vital to curb global warming. Satellites can help in finding the largest methane emitters. We use the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) satellite instruments to observe large methane plumes with a high resolution of 750 m. We show that using the three VIIRS instruments improves current abilities to track large methane emissions. Together with the Sentinel-3 satellites we can now image methane plumes multiple times a day. This is especially important for plumes that result from short-duration emission events. Furthermore, we show that because the observations of one of these VIIRS satellites overlap with those of the TROPOMI instrument, we can directly compare the low-resolution, high-precision measurements of TROPOMI with the high-resolution, but high-noise measurements of VIIRS. This means we can use VIIRS to zoom in on plumes detected by TROPOMI to identify the responsible facility and compare the observed methane plumes, which we find agree well within their respective uncertainties.

ISPRS Brock Gold Medal Nominations

ISPRS Council is seeking recommendations from members for the prestigous
Brock Gold Medal Award (https://www.isprs.org/society/awards/brock.aspx)
which will be presented at the XXV ISPRS Congress in Toronto in 2026
(https://www.isprs2026toronto.com/).

The deadline for nominations is 1 October 2025. Nominations can be
submitted via the online portal
https://www.isprs.org/society/awards/nominations/Default.aspx which will
be opened on 10 June or per email to the ISPRS President, Lena Halounová
at isprs-pr@isprs.org.

UK SPACE CONSULTATION: READ THE RSPSoc RESPONSE

The House of Lords Committee on UK Engagement with Space published a call for written evidence for its inquiry to consider UK policies relating to space, and both the opportunities and challenges related to the UK’s engagement with space.

Read the RSPSoc response

STRATEGY

We have a strategy to help guide us. It is our 75th anniversary in 2027. So, our current strategy will take us to there. You can read it here.

Each year we produce an annual report and impact statement, you can read this here

A message from the Chair of the RSPSoc

NEWSLETTER

Welcome to the first edition of our new monthly newsletter. You can read it here.