China has established a groundbreaking, fully integrated space-air-ground-sea ecological and environmental monitoring network that draws on data from approximately 150 satellites, the country’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment has announced. The development was revealed during a press conference held on Monday by Zhang Dawei, director of the ministry’s ecological and environmental monitoring department, who centered remarks on a new high-precision greenhouse gas detection satellite launched into orbit on April 17.
This newly launched satellite carries five cutting-edge scientific instruments, including a lidar system and a hyperspectral greenhouse gas monitor. With this technology on board, Zhang explained, China has become the first country in the world to achieve integrated active and passive greenhouse gas detection from space. The satellite is capable of carrying out large-scale, high-accuracy monitoring of major greenhouse gases and key gaseous pollutants across the entire globe, marking a major milestone in the evolution of China’s modern ecological and environmental monitoring infrastructure, Zhang emphasized.
Currently, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment serves as the lead operational user for eight dedicated environmental and atmospheric satellites, and maintains coordination agreements to access data from more than 140 additional commercial and civilian satellites across the country. Zhang noted that together, this fleet of satellites is equipped with multispectral sensors featuring a broad range of wavebands and short orbital revisit cycles, enabling the ministry to complete a full-coverage ecological “health check” every two months across 3.3 million square kilometers of national nature reserves and protected areas falling within China’s ecological conservation red lines.
Beyond inland protected areas, the integrated monitoring system also conducts quarterly systematic scans of 21,000 kilometers of China’s mainland coastline and 100,000 square kilometers of its adjacent coastal waters. These scans allow authorities to rapidly identify human-caused ecological damage and illegal encroachment on protected coastal ecosystems.
In addition to broad-area regional scanning, the satellite fleet also carries hyperspectral sensors designed for targeted, high-precision detection. These sensors can accurately resolve atmospheric chemical components and provide quantitative measurements of trace harmful gases including ozone, nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde, delivering critical data that supports evidence-based air pollution control efforts.
On a global scale, the network’s sensors can pinpoint the exact location of methane leaks from oil and gas extraction sites, coal mines and municipal landfills, tracing pollutant emissions directly to individual responsible facilities. Completing the system’s robust capabilities, many satellites in the fleet are equipped with radar instruments that enable all-weather, 24/7 monitoring operations that do not depend on natural light and are unaffected by cloudy or severe weather conditions.