Since the system’s operations started in January 2024, 14,500 methane plumes have been detected, and 4,000 alerts have been issued. MARS processed around 200,000 satellite images in just the first eight months of 2025. “By combining AI with deep scientific knowledge, IMEO has increased its ability to monitor the globe for methane emissions tenfold. These efforts are expanding to better monitor methane from the coal and waste sectors,” Ms. Ferrini emphasizes.

While satellites provide a global view, detecting large leaks and critical points from space, aircraft locate specific regions, and drones equipped with sensors fly over facilities to identify the exact source of emissions. Ms. Ferrini says that oil and gas companies use portable sensors, such as optical gas imaging cameras, to detect leaks in specific equipment and correct them.

In Brazil, a system combining the Internet of Things (IoT) and photonic sensing to identify fleeting methane emissions, created by the company Alfa Sense and Brazil’s Center for Research and Development in Telecommunications Foundation (CPQD), received an award from Petrobras and generated a patent application at the Brazilian Institute of Industrial Property (INPI).

“We developed a purely optical, passive sensor that interacts with methane molecules at the leak site. When you have light at the same wavelength, at the same frequency, the methane molecule absorbs that light. We monitor the amount of light absorbed and can detect if methane is present,” explains Marcos Sanches, innovation coordinator at Alfa Sense.

However, the prototype did not become a product. Now, Alfa Sense is engaged in another project. It was selected through NAVE, an entrepreneurship program launched by Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency, to meet Challenge 56, related to advanced technologies for monitoring and controlling greenhouse gas emissions.

The São Carlos campus of the University of São Paulo (USP) is developing a drone project that uses sensors and artificial intelligence systems to measure the concentration of greenhouse gases, in order to monitor environmental conditions in forested areas and identify fire outbreaks.

“With drones, we can obtain a profile of gas concentration to detect if there are bubbles, if the gases are concentrating more in the soil, or if they are dissipating into the atmosphere,” explains Antonio Carlos Daud Filho, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of São Paulo. According to him, one of the challenges lies in the fact that low-cost sensors—which are lighter, smaller, and easier to mount on smaller drones—do not have as much precision as more expensive ones.

At Embrapa, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, the main focus, with regard to methane, is to reduce the time cattle spend in the pasture and improve pasture quality and management. “Cattle produce 500 liters of methane per head per day, so extensive agriculture, the kind that leaves cattle in the pasture, typical of Brazil, plays a big role in this,” says Luiz Eduardo Vicente, a researcher on remote sensing and natural resources at Embrapa.

Mr. Vicente points out that the agricultural sector accounts for 76% of Brazil’s methane emissions, of which 5.7% are associated with animal waste management. To address this challenge, the Ministry of Agriculture, Embrapa, and the NGO Instituto 17 launched a tool in August that calculates methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from waste management in livestock farming. ABC+Calc generates systematized data to help achieve the goals of the Adaptation and Low Carbon Emission Plan for Agriculture (ABC+ Plan).

Many Brazilian initiatives, however, make indirect measurements. Created by the Climate Observatory, the Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removals Estimation System (SEEG) uses methods and guidelines established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to analyze public and open data to monitor greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors of the economy.

Linked to the SEEG, Ingrid Graces, a researcher at the Institute of Energy and Environment (IEMA), and Iris Coluna, an advisor at ICLEI, a global network focused on sustainable urban development, acknowledge that it is necessary to have more precise emission figures for the various types of activities and regions, with the combination of satellites, drones, and remote sensors. “It’s all still very embryonic, so much so that it’s very difficult to have historical series,” Ms. Graces emphasizes.

Jean Ometto, senior researcher at Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE), adds that methane has been monitored especially using industrial sources, satellites, and cameras that measure wavelengths. There is also equipment placed on meteorological towers to measure gas flows and equipment that detects methane in the air. “With the evolution of nanosatellites, which fly at lower altitudes, potentially, you can conduct experiments more frequently,” predicts Mr. Ometto.

*By Roberta Prescott — São Paulo

Source: Valor International

https://valorinternational.globo.com/