Ilse Aben wins Stevin Prize for detecting large methane leaks with TROPOMI
This year, NWO awards one of its two Stevin Prizes to Professor Ilse Aben (SRON/VU) for the societal impact she has achieved with the Dutch space instrument TROPOMI.
At SRON, part of NWO-I, Aben leads the TROPOMI team that weekly publishes a world map of major methane leaks. These leaks have a combined climate impact twice as large as the total greenhouse gas emissions of the Netherlands. Projects by the United Nations and the European Union, among others, use this data to close the leaks through diplomatic channels.
The Stevin Prize is the highest Dutch award for the application of knowledge for society and amounts to 1.5 million euros for research.
TROPOMI
TROPOMI stands for TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument. It is an advanced satellite instrument for climate and air quality research that was developed in The Netherlands. It was launched in October 2017 on board ESA's Sentinel-5p satellite. TROPOMI continuously scans the Earth for methane leaks, among other things. The instrument measures concentrations of greenhouse gases and air pollution down to city level. Aben and her team convert the collected data into information about methane leaks, but also about emissions of harmful substances such as carbon monoxide.
UN programmes
Aben also makes an impact by actively seeking contact with the public and policymakers. She regularly appears in the media - from the NOS Journaal to the New York Times - to highlight the importance of methane reduction. She has also been a speaker at various COP climate summits.
Award ceremony
"The Netherlands punches above its weight in global efforts in satellite-based greenhouse gas detection, and that is largely thanks to the work of Ilse Aben," according the Stevin selection committee. The other winner of the Stevin Price is Ingrid Robeyns
The award ceremony of the Spinoza and Stevin Prices will be on tuesday 14 October in The Royal Theatre in The Hague. The winners will then officially receive the awards from the Caretaker Minister of Education, Culture and Science.