3 May 2022

Cow burp emissions detected from space

From Morning Report, 8:28 am on 3 May 2022

Methane emissions burped up by cows have been detected all the way from space.

Plumes of the powerful greenhouse gas were picked up by satellites amongst cattle in California.

The discovery by environmental data firm GHGSat is believed to be a world-first - and it's hoped it can help us better understand just how much agriculture is contributing to climate change.

GHGSat spokesperson Brody Wight spoke to Susie Ferguson.

In New Zealand, Rocket Lab is setting up mission control for a new 350kg satellite, dubbed the "MethaneSAT", which also seeks to measure methane from cows. It's set to start delivering data from next year.