Spatial evaluation of methane emissions in the communities of Warints and Yawi, Ecuador

Abstract

Methane is a greenhouse gas that has caused environmental repercussions on the planet. At the national level, spatial data are unavailable, so this study aimed to estimate the amount of methane (CH4) emissions in the communities of Warints and Yawi through satellite images. The methodological process was non-experimental, with a descriptive–longitudinal design; 3 satellite images were taken from the OLI and TIRS 8 sensor from the virtual repository (USGS Earth Explorer), years 2013, 2016, and 2020; ArcGIS and ENVI were used during preprocessing and processing: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), emissivity, surface temperature, and methane emissions were determined through the empirical model based on temperatures. The results were the following: for 2013, 2016, and 2020, it was 1.74 × 10 -5; 1.01 × 10 -4 and 2.36 × 10 -4 megatons, respectively, with an annual emission rate of 45.11%. It is concluded that emissions are inversely proportional regarding community centers and bare soils. This model is recommended for estimating the annual methane budget in areas with high vegetative incidence at the local and regional levels.

Keywords

• methane
• remote sensing
• landsat
• ndvi
• surface temperature
• sustainable development
• environmental economics