Methods and systems for characterizing methane emission employing mobile methane emission detection

A method for characterizing methane emission at an industrial facility from a flight of an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) equipped with at least one navigational instrument and at least one methane gas sensor, the method comprising:

• defining a scan area associated with the industrial facility;
• logically partitioning the scan area into a plurality of pixels based on information provided by an intelligent agent;
• defining a flight plan for a flight of the UAV, wherein the flight plan covers the pixels of the scan area;
• operating the UAV to execute the flight plan and collect time-series navigational data from the at least one navigational instrument and time-series sensor data from the at least one methane sensor as the UAV executes the flight plan, and dynamically adjusting the flight plan or flight path of the UAV during the flight by operation of the intelligent agent to ensure that the flight path of the UAV covers the pixels of the scan area;
• and
• constructing at least one two-dimensional (2D) image of methane concentration over the pixels of the scan area from the time-series navigational data and the time-series sensor data.