Swedish scientists have built a camera that makes methane gas visible. The tool could help researchers study greenhouses gases and answer tricky questions about climate change. It's also good for visualizing cow farts. Magnus Gålfalk of Linköping University explains that the camera works using infrared spectroscopy. Called "hyperspectral imaging," the method simultaneously captures a spectrum of infrared light for every pixel in a photo. Many gases absorb infrared light, Gålfalk says, not just methane (CH4). But the camera is fine-tuned to see the signature of methane gas. In the picture above, the purple plume is methane the researchers released from their lab to test the camera. They also tried taking pictures of a waste incineration plant, a heap of sewage sludge, and a barn with 18 cows inside (the red area is methane):
Getting a better grasp on CH4 matters because methane is a powerful greenhouse gas. Molecule for molecule, ...
