A natural gas leak of mostly methane was discovered in October at the Southern California Gas Company's Aliso Canyon site near Porter Ranch. Since then, over 2,100 families have been placed in temporary housing due to adverse health effects suffered by people living near the methane leak. But the actual leak is mostly invisible, until you turn on the infrared cameras.
Because methane is colorless in the visible light spectrum, infrared is really they only way to spot it. Methane absorbs some infrared light, making the leak show up as a black plume in this video the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) took from a helicopter.
The leaking well is an 8,700-foot steel pipeline measuring seven inches in diameter that deposits natural gas into an underground storage field. The California Air Resources Board estimates that the damaged well is leaking somewhere between 65,000 and 127,000 pounds of methane into the air every hour, which amounts to a 25 percent increase in California's greenhouse gas output. It's so bad that the FAA has even banned flights over the area as a precaution.
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SoCal Gas is currently drilling a relief well to intercept and plug the leak, but the company estimates that the damage might not be repaired until the end of March. The company will break ground in January on a second relief well as a fallback option.
Jay Bennett is the associate editor of PopularMechanics.com. He has also written for Smithsonian, Popular Science and Outside Magazine.