The leak is now being photographed from orbit
the leak is now being photographed from orbit: methanesat uses transfer learning to spot and segment methane plumes automatically, tanager-1 has spent two years pinning down super emitters with planet and nasa jpl, and the next swir sensor will cover five times the area per pass.
the invisible gas now files a mugshot.
Context
An arXiv paper from May 2026 covers plume segmentation from MethaneSAT with cross-sensor transfer learning and physics-informed postprocessing. Carbon Mapper marked two years of Tanager-1 on Aug 17, and Planet and Carbon Mapper signed an agreement on Apr 30 for a new SWIR-only Tanager spacecraft for wider methane detection.
Carbon Mapper also unveiled a plan for next-generation methane detection technology.
MethaneSAT plume segmentation, Tanager-1's two years and the planned SWIR-only satellite match the sources. The 'five times the area per pass' figure and the 'super emitters' wording were not confirmed in the excerpts read, so they are unsupported here, not refuted.
'The invisible gas now files a mugshot' is the author's opinion.
Related work
- arXiv: plume segmentation from MethaneSAT ↗Transfer learning.
- Carbon Mapper: Tanager-1, two years ↗The anniversary.
- Business Wire: Planet and Carbon Mapper sign for new Tanager spacecraft ↗The SWIR-only plan.
Watch next
- Look for the swath width figure.
Sources
- arXiv 2605.24273, May 22, 2026arxiv.org
- Carbon Mapper, Aug 17, 2026carbonmapper.org
- PR Newswire, Apr 30, 2026prnewswire.com
Provenance
The note above is reproduced unedited from the original post, first published on Threads on 3 October 2026 at 12:35 IST. Sources are the papers and datasets the note draws on.
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