> why can't companies just survey from the ground?
From a layman's perspective:
(1) the incentive is not aligned to accurately report leaks [1][2][3][4][5]
(2) Satellites provide global monitoring. This reaches to places/countries/regions that are not regulated, and secondly provides monitoring for natural sources of methane emissions (eg: permafrost). For the latter, even if there is nothing to be done about natural emissions, the more accurate data will provide for better modelling and help humans better understand the Earth's ecosystem.
[4] July 2023: "Australian Fossil Fuels Giants Severely Underestimate Methane Leaks" - "Fugitive — or hidden — methane emissions in the country are likely underestimated by 80% for coal and 90% for oil and gas, a new report from IEEFA say" https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-04/australia...
From a layman's perspective:
(1) the incentive is not aligned to accurately report leaks [1][2][3][4][5]
(2) Satellites provide global monitoring. This reaches to places/countries/regions that are not regulated, and secondly provides monitoring for natural sources of methane emissions (eg: permafrost). For the latter, even if there is nothing to be done about natural emissions, the more accurate data will provide for better modelling and help humans better understand the Earth's ecosystem.
[1] June 2022: "Oil and gas companies underreported methane leaks, new study shows" https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/06/0...
[2] Oct 2023: "Oil and gas companies are missing significant methane emissions. Here’s how to fix that." https://rmi.org/oil-and-gas-companies-are-missing-significan...
[3] "Gross under-reporting of fugitive methane emissions has big implications for industry" https://ieefa.org/resources/gross-under-reporting-fugitive-m...
[4] July 2023: "Australian Fossil Fuels Giants Severely Underestimate Methane Leaks" - "Fugitive — or hidden — methane emissions in the country are likely underestimated by 80% for coal and 90% for oil and gas, a new report from IEEFA say" https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-07-04/australia...
[5] March 2022 "Stanford-led study: Methane leaks are far worse than estimates, at least in New Mexico, but there’s hope" https://news.stanford.edu/press-releases/2022/03/24/methane-...