Boulder scientists investigate Four Corners methane pollution

BOULDER – Scientists from Boulder plan to research a methane hotspot over the Four Corners region linked to mining operations, including from coal and natural gas extraction.

The large concentration of methane was detected from space by a European satellite between 2003 and 2009. Scientists from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado-Boulder and from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will work with Apache, Navajo and Southern Ute tribes, Bureau of Land Management, National Aeronautics and Space Administration and others on the research.

Scientists will use planes to spot methane and two vans with measuring…