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Crosscutting Airborne Remote Sensing Technologies for Oil and Gas and Earth Science ApplicationsAirborne imaging spectroscopy has evolved dramatically since the 1980s as a robust remote sensing technique used to generate 2-dimensional maps of surface properties over large spatial areas. Traditional applications for passive airborne imaging spectroscopy include interrogation of surface composition, such as mapping of vegetation diversity and surface geological composition. Two recent applications are particularly relevant to the needs of both the oil and gas as well as government sectors: quantification of surficial hydrocarbon thickness in aquatic environments and mapping atmospheric greenhouse gas components. These techniques provide valuable capabilities for petroleum seepage in addition to detection and quantification of fugitive emissions. New empirical data that provides insight into the source strength of anthropogenic methane will be reviewed, with particular emphasis on the evolving constraints enabled by new methane remote sensing techniques. Contemporary studies attribute high-strength point sources as significantly contributing to the national methane inventory and underscore the need for high performance remote sensing technologies that provide quantitative leak detection. Imaging sensors that map spatial distributions of methane anomalies provide effective techniques to detect, localize, and quantify fugitive leaks. Airborne remote sensing instruments provide the unique combination of high spatial resolution (<1 m) and large coverage required to directly attribute methane emissions to individual emission sources. This capability cannot currently be achieved using spaceborne sensors. In this study, results from recent NASA remote sensing field experiments focused on point-source leak detection, will be highlighted. This includes existing quantitative capabilities for oil and methane using state-of-the-art airborne remote sensing instruments. While these capabilities are of interest to NASA for assessment of environmental impact and global climate change, industry similarly seeks to detect and localize leaks of both oil and methane across operating fields. In some cases, higher sensitivities desired for upstream and downstream applications can only be provided by new airborne remote sensing instruments tailored specifically for a given application. There exists a unique opportunity for alignment of efforts between commercial and government sectors to advance the next generation of instruments to provide more sensitive leak detection capabilities, including those for quantitative source strength determination.
Document ID
20170007003
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Aubrey, A. D.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Frankenberg, C.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Green, R. O.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Eastwood, M. L.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Thompson, D. R.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Thorpe, A. K.
(California Univ. Santa Barbara, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 1, 2017
Publication Date
May 4, 2015
Subject Category
Earth Resources And Remote Sensing
Report/Patent Number
OTC-25984-MS
Meeting Information
Meeting: Offshore Technology Conference
Location: Houston, TX
Country: United States
Start Date: May 4, 2015
End Date: May 7, 2015
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
hyperspectral
imaging spectrometer
methane

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