Methane and Climate Change: Scientists Struggle to Solve Four Corners Mystery

Back in October, scientists discovered that the Four Corners region of the United States was a methane "hot spot," releasing large amounts of the greenhouse gas. And amidst the battle against climate change, scientists are still struggling to solve this methane mystery.

It's hard to imagine how until recently we could have missed a 2,500-square-mile cloud of methane hovering above the Four Corners region of the Southwest - where Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico meet.

Scientists actually first noticed the data years ago, but the measurements obtained were so extreme that they wanted to wait a few years before investigating the region in detail.

Last year, researchers at the University of Michigan and NASA conducted a detailed analysis using images from a European satellite taken from 2003-2009.

It turns out the data didn't lie. This methane "hot spot" is the nation's biggest concentration of methane - more than triple the standard ground-based estimate. And with methane being a more potent heat-trapping gas than even carbon dioxide (CO2), the site is a major contributor to global warming, concerning scientists everywhere.

To gain better insight into the methane concentration, NASA, along with researchers from several other institutions, are using a suite of airborne and ground-based instruments that will yield more detailed data than satellite observations.

"With all the ground-based and airborne resources that the different groups are bringing to the region, we have the unique chance to unequivocally solve the Four Corners mystery," Christian Frankenberg, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a news release.

The planes are carrying the Hyperspectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (HyTES) and the Next-Generation Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRISng), which combined can make highly sensitive measurements of methane, and show how methane levels vary even every few feet, allowing scientists to identify individual sources. (Scroll to read on...)