Monitoring Methane Emissions from Landfills Using Prisma Imagery

After carbon dioxide, methane is the second most relevant anthropogenic greenhouse gas in terms of its impact on climate change. Landfill-related emissions make up 15-18% of total methane emissions. Estimating methane emissions globally is crucial for effective global warming mitigation. To this end, this study, part of the CLEAR-UP project funded by the Italian Space Agency, investigates the application of the hyperspectral satellite platform PRISMA (PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa) for monitoring methane emissions from landfills. The retrieval methodology is based on an improved matched filter approach, and in this paper, we intend to assess PRISMA’s capacity to detect methane emissions by focusing on large-size sites as a case study. This research not only demonstrates PRISMA's potential in environmental monitoring but also contributes to strategies aimed at mitigating climate change impacts through improved waste management.