Nasa scientists have begun tracking the world's largest methane emission spots from space and found sites in the US, Turkmenistan and Iran that are classed as “super emitters”.
Data is being gathered by the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source (EMIT) mission, which involves a piece of specially designed kit called a spectrometer which was attached to the International Space Station in July.
Nasa said more than 50 “super emitters” of methane gas in Central Asia, the Middle East, and the south-western US have been identified so far. Most of them are connected to the fossil fuel, waste or agriculture sectors.
It found 12 plumes — some more than 32 kilometres wide — from oil and gas infrastructure east of the port of Hazar in Turkmenistan and another methane plume south of Iran's capital Tehran of around 4.8km.
“Some of the plumes EMIT detected are among the largest ever seen — unlike anything that has ever been observed from space,” said Andrew Thorpe, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) research technologist leading the EMIT's methane studies.
“What we’ve found in just a short time already exceeds our expectations.”
New Mexico's Permian Basin, one of the largest oilfields in the world, showed a plume of 3.3 kilometres, emitting approximately 18,000 kilograms of methane per hour into the atmosphere.
The Turkmenistan plumes emitted around 50,400kg of methane per hour and the Iranian plume 8,500kg.
To put this in perspective, one of the four Nord Stream pipeline leaks is kicking out 22,920kg of methane per hour and originally had a plume of 520 metres.
“The continuing rise in concentrations of the main heat-trapping gases, including the record acceleration in methane levels, shows that we are heading in the wrong direction,” World Meteorological Organisation head Petteri Taalas said.
The WMO's Greenhouse Gas Bulletin found the biggest year-on-year jump in methane concentrations in 2021 since systematic measurements began nearly 40 years ago on Thursday.
The EMIT programme was designed to gather data on dust and its impact on climate, but Nasa scientists have discovered it can also read methane levels due to how they absorb infrared light. As the ISS orbits Earth, it can gain broad readings of the planet in detail, revealing the extent of known leaks and spotting new ones.
“Reining in methane emissions is key to limiting global warming. This exciting new development will not only help researchers better pinpoint where methane leaks are coming from but also provide insight on how they can be addressed — quickly,” Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson said.
Methane is one of the main drivers of climate change, accounting for about 30 per cent of global warming since the pre-industrial era. The greenhouse gas is 80 times more potent than carbon for warming the planet over a 20-year period.
Even as Covid-19 lockdowns drove carbon emissions down in 2020, methane emissions continued to climb, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found.
But unlike carbon dioxide, methane breaks downs in the atmosphere in about 10 years, meaning action to stop it from reaching the ozone layer can make a huge difference.
The UN estimates that human-caused methane emissions may be reduced by as much as 45 per cent this decade, if the right action is taken.
“As it continues to survey the planet, EMIT will observe places in which no one thought to look for greenhouse-gas emitters before, and it will find plumes that no one expects,” said Robert Green, EMIT’s principal investigator at JPL.
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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FFP EXPLAINED
What is Financial Fair Play?
Introduced in 2011 by Uefa, European football’s governing body, it demands that clubs live within their means. Chiefly, spend within their income and not make substantial losses.
What the rules dictate?
The second phase of its implementation limits losses to €30 million (Dh136m) over three seasons. Extra expenditure is permitted for investment in sustainable areas (youth academies, stadium development, etc). Money provided by owners is not viewed as income. Revenue from “related parties” to those owners is assessed by Uefa's “financial control body” to be sure it is a fair value, or in line with market prices.
What are the penalties?
There are a number of punishments, including fines, a loss of prize money or having to reduce squad size for European competition – as happened to PSG in 2014. There is even the threat of a competition ban, which could in theory lead to PSG’s suspension from the Uefa Champions League.
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
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- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
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Sheikh Zayed's poem
When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.
Your love is ruling over my heart
Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it
Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home
You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness
Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins
You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge
You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm
Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you
You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it
Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by.
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ICC Intercontinental Cup
UAE squad Rohan Mustafa (captain), Chirag Suri, Shaiman Anwar, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Saqlain Haider, Ahmed Raza, Mohammed Naveed, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Mohammed Boota, Amir Hayat, Ashfaq Ahmed
Fixtures Nov 29-Dec 2
UAE v Afghanistan, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Hong Kong v Papua New Guinea, Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Ireland v Scotland, Dubai International Stadium
Namibia v Netherlands, ICC Academy, Dubai
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
How to become a Boglehead
Bogleheads follow simple investing philosophies to build their wealth and live better lives. Just follow these steps.
• Spend less than you earn and save the rest. You can do this by earning more, or being frugal. Better still, do both.
• Invest early, invest often. It takes time to grow your wealth on the stock market. The sooner you begin, the better.
• Choose the right level of risk. Don't gamble by investing in get-rich-quick schemes or high-risk plays. Don't play it too safe, either, by leaving long-term savings in cash.
• Diversify. Do not keep all your eggs in one basket. Spread your money between different companies, sectors, markets and asset classes such as bonds and property.
• Keep charges low. The biggest drag on investment performance is all the charges you pay to advisers and active fund managers.
• Keep it simple. Complexity is your enemy. You can build a balanced, diversified portfolio with just a handful of ETFs.
• Forget timing the market. Nobody knows where share prices will go next, so don't try to second-guess them.
• Stick with it. Do not sell up in a market crash. Use the opportunity to invest more at the lower price.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
