AI analysis of satellite images shows 1990s USSR collapse increased methane emissions, despite lower oil, gas production

Phys.org

Center

High Factuality

AI analysis of satellite images shows 1990s USSR collapse increased methane emissions, despite lower oil, gas production

The collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991 yielded social, political and economic effects worldwide. Among them was a suspected role in slowing human-generated methane emissions. Methane had been rising steadily in the atmosphere until about 1990. Atmospheric scientists theorized that economic collapse in the former USSR led to less oil and gas production, and thus a slowdown in the rise of global methane levels, which has since resumed.