Tatarstan is in the centre of European Russia, with an area of 67.8km², and 4 million human population. 90% of the region is no more than 200m above sea level, mostly forest and forest-steppe with deciduous and coniferous trees. It has over 500 rivers, including Volga, Kama and over 8000 lakes and ponds. It is moderately humid with warm summers and moderately cold winters, but humidity has increased alongside global temperature increases.

To understand the impact of atmospheric methane, the researchers used remote sensing alongside data from existing methods such as field measurements, atmospheric monitoring, and process based emission models. They used nadir imaging focusing straight down directly over Tatarstan with a TROPOMI spectrometer which covers UV to shortwave infrared wavelengths. This is filmed from the ESA Sentinel-5P spacecraft which also measures solar radiation.

They analysed the volume of solar radiation accumulating over Tatarstan including characteristics such as cloud cover, near-surface atmospheric temperature, precipitation, wind speed and direction. They used QGIS, Next GIS to create the regional visualisation, and Statistica 10 for the data analysis.

They found an annual increase in air temperature with annual increase of 0.31 °C/10 years in 1970s, now 0.52°C / 10 years in 2023. They found a sustained increase in methane between 2019 and 2023:

They were able to compare methane levels based on anthropogenic activities such as industrial enterprises, thermal power which were considerably higher than rural, forested or reservoir areas where there is little to no anthropogenic activity. They also accounted for anomalies such as industral accidents producing higher shorter-term levels and were able to identify seasonal and annual patterns. They recommend both regional alongside federal environmental attention regarding the influence of anthropogenic activity and increased methane over Tatarstan.

Nikitin O, Stepanova N, Kuzmin R, Nasyrova E, Latypova V (2024) Estimation of atmospheric methane levels over the Republic of Tatarstan (Russia) territory in 2019–2023 using satellite remote sensing data: effects of anthropogenic and climate drivers, E3S Web Conf., 498 (2024) 02008 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202449802008