Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT)

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Context

NASA Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation instrument, often known as EMIT, has assisted United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) scientists in detecting methane in the Earth’s atmosphere.

EMIT

The Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT) is an Earth Ventures-Instrument (EVI-4) Mission to map the mineral composition of arid dust source regions via imaging spectroscopy in the visible and short-wave infrared range.
The maps of the source regions is used to model the role of mineral dust in the radiative forcing (warming or cooling) of the atmosphere. The instrument observes Earth from outside the International Space Station.
EMIT was installed on the International Space Station in July 2022. Since then, it has been mapping the chemical composition of dust throughout the Earth’s deserts. It can focus on areas as small as a football ground.

Recent study

EMIT is originally designed to examine how dust impacts climate. But it has demonstrated another crucial capability — detecting the presence of methane - a potent greenhouse gas in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Implications

Methane is an 80 times more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. It accounts for a small portion of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions compared to carbon dioxide. But it is 80 times more efficient than carbon dioxide at trapping atmospheric heat in the 20 years following its release.
Methane stays in the atmosphere for only ten years, unlike CO2, which persists for hundreds or thousands of years. This indicates that a significant decrease in methane emissions might sharply reduce anticipated global warming by the middle of the century.
Furthermore, it would support the Paris Agreement’s aim of limiting the global average temperature increase to 1.5°C.

Final Thought

Reining in methane emissions is key to limiting global warming. The recent finding by EMIT will help researchers better pinpoint methane leaks and provide insight on how they can be addressed quickly.