Western researchers to probe greenhouse gases at city landfill

London's dump, the W12A landfill, on Manning Drive in the south end of the city. (City of London photo) The Western Institute for Earth and Space Exploration is leading a new project to measure methane released by London's dump, with a multi-disciplinary team of researchers helping to track the potent greenhouse gas. The team will use drones, satellites, as well as stationary and hand-held devices to determine exactly how much methane is produced at the city landfill on Manning Drive - officially named W12A - and whether any of it is escaping the collection system currently in place. Federal funding of $200,000, announced this week, will help the team collect the crucial data over the next two years. Sarah Gallagher "It's very important we limit methane emissions as much as possible because it is a really potent greenhouse gas. Dumps make methane, that's just a normal process of decomposing - it's not like you can prevent that from happening," said Sarah Gallagher, an astrophysicist and director of the Institute for Earth and Space Exploration. "The ultimate goal is to provide information to the City of London and to the company that runs the methane collection system, so they can do the best job they can to capture all the methane and reduce emissions into the atmosphere.