Mystery Methane
Scientists are trying to figure out the cause of a strange methane hot spot in the Southwest.
Due east of The Four Corners—that place in the Southwest where Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico connect—something is emitting a lot of methane (three times more than anywhere else in the country), and scientists are trying to figure out what's going on.
Researchers from NASA and the University of Michigan noticed the 2,500-square-mile hot spot (about half the size of Connecticut) when looking at old satellite data collected between 2003 and 2009. Over the next year, they’ll investigate the odd concentration of this very potent greenhouse gas, but one suspected culprit is leaky natural gas operations within the Suan Juan Basin, the most productive coalbed methane site in the country. If not, maybe it's a case for Special Agents Moulder and Scully....
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