This optical gas imaging footage documents a malfunctioning flare that is causing a large emissions release.
Optical gas imaging is a technology that makes visible the normally invisible pollution from oil and gas.
Oilfield Witness uses a Teledyne FLIR G620 optical gas imaging (OGI) camera that is calibrated to detect hydrocarbons (methane and volatile organic compounds) in the 3.2 - 3.4 micrometer wavelength band of the electromagnetic spectrum (also called the energy spectrum). Humans see in the 0.4 - 0.7 micrometer range (visible light).
Hydrocarbons absorb infrared light, so they appear opaque when using the OGI camera allowing us to "see" the methane and VOC emissions.
Sharon Wilson, Oilfield Witness Director, became a certified OGI thermographer in June 2014. Since then, she has documented oil and gas pollution all across the U.S. and in other countries. Her OGI videos are peer-reviewed by Tim Doty, Level III thermographer and contract instructor for the Infrared Training Center. Doty worked +28 years for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the state environmental regulatory agency.
