New Camera Measures Greenhouse Gases

by | Dec 8, 2015

A new methane-monitoring camera can be used in a variety of locations to help understand how methane gas behaves and contributes to climate change. (Credit: Therese Ekstrand Amaya)

A new methane-monitoring camera can be used in a variety of locations to help understand how methane gas behaves and contributes to climate change. (Credit: Therese Ekstrand Amaya)

A new camera from Sweden's Linköping University and Stockholm University can photograph and film methane in the air to help measure and monitor greenhouse gases.

The camera is very sensitive, which means that the methane is both visible and measureable close to ground level, with much higher resolution than previously. Being able to measure on a small scale is crucial, says Magnus GÃ¥lfalk, assistant professor at Tema Environmental Change, Linköping University, who led the study recently published in Nature Climate Change.

The hyperspectral infrared camera weighs 30 kilograms and measures 50 x 45 x 25 centimeters. It's optimized to measure the same radiation that methane absorbs. For each pixel in an image, the camera records a high-resolution spectrum to quantify the methane separately from other gases.

NEWEST V1 MEDIA PUBLICATION

October Issue 2023