About MethLab
Mission
Methane is the second most impactful greenhouse gas, responsible for roughly 30% of global warming to date. Yet most methane emissions are invisible - leaks from oil and gas infrastructure, coal mines, landfills, and livestock operations that go undetected and unreported.
MethLab transforms satellite detection data into immersive 3D visualizations that make these invisible emissions impossible to ignore. By pairing scientific data with visceral visual impact, we aim to drive awareness and action.
How It Works
Satellite Detection
Imaging spectrometers on satellites like Tanager detect methane and CO2 plumes from orbit by measuring absorption in reflected sunlight.
Data Processing
Carbon Mapper processes raw satellite imagery into quantified emission rates (kg/hr), plume geometries, wind data, and source attribution.
3D Visualization
We render each plume as a volumetric 3D volume using ray-marched atmospheric scattering, driven by real emission rates and wind vectors.
Technology
The 3D plume visualizations use volumetric ray-marching adapted from geospatial cloud rendering technology. Each plume's shape is generated using the Gaussian plume dispersion model, driven by real satellite-measured emission rates and wind data.
Key parameters from the satellite data - emission rate (kg/hr), wind speed and direction, plume bounds - are mapped to volumetric density, scattering coefficients, and advection vectors to create physically plausible visualizations.
Data Sources
Carbon Mapper
Provides satellite-based methane and CO2 plume detection data from the Tanager satellite constellation. Over 35,000 plumes catalogued globally.
carbonmapper.org →Peregrine Geo Services
Specialists in satellite-based methane detection and monitoring, producing detailed reports on fugitive emissions from energy infrastructure.
peregrinegeoservices.com →The Business Case
Most fugitive methane emissions are economically fixable. Leaked methane is lost product - natural gas that could be captured and sold. The cost of detection, repair, and monitoring is typically a fraction of the value of recovered gas and avoided carbon penalties.
Our broader mission is ethical natural resource management: helping companies identify their emission sources, quantify the cost-benefit of remediation, and build a pathway to genuinely lower-emission operations.
Explore the cost-benefit analysis →