Researchers from the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) were able to identify and measure the ratio of ethane to methane from different polluters, which the laboratory said could bolster efforts in achieving the Global Methane Pledge. 

The University of California’s Office of the President and Laboratory Directed Research and Development at Los Alamos National Laboratory funded the study.

“We were able to show that individual sources of methane from coal, oil and gas, and fossil fuel infrastructure in New Mexico’s San Juan Basin have different ethane-to-methane ratios that can be detected at various scales, allowing us to differentiate among them,” said LANL’s Aaron Meyer, lead author of the published study.

The seven-person research team measured the ratio of...