Reversal of global atmospheric ethane and propane trends largely due to US oil and natural gas production

Helmig, Detlev; Rossabi, Samuel; Hueber, Jacques; Tans, Pieter; Montzka, Stephen A.; Masarie, Ken; Thoning, Kirk; Plass-Duelmer, Christian; Claude, Anja; Carpenter, Lucy J.; Lewis, Alastair C.; Punjabi, Shalini; Reimann, Stefan; Vollmer, Martin K.; Steinbrecher, Rainer; Hannigan, James W.; Emmons, Louisa K.; Mahieu, Emmanuel; Franco, Bruno; Smale, Dan; Pozzer, Andrea

doi:10.1038/ngeo2721

Reversal of global atmospheric ethane and propane trends largely due to US oil and natural gas production

2016
By Helmig, Detlev ; Rossabi, Samuel ; Hueber, Jacques ; ...

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Journal Title:

Nature Geoscience
Personal Author:

Helmig, Detlev ; Rossabi, Samuel ; Hueber, Jacques ; Tans, Pieter ; Montzka, Stephen A. ; Masarie, Ken ; Thoning, Kirk ; Plass-Duelmer, Christian ; Claude, Anja ; Carpenter, Lucy J. ; Lewis, Alastair C. ; Punjabi, Shalini ; Reimann, Stefan ; Vollmer, Martin K. ; Steinbrecher, Rainer ; Hannigan, James W. ; Emmons, Louisa K. ; Mahieu, Emmanuel ; Franco, Bruno ; Smale, Dan ; Pozzer, Andrea
NOAA Program & Office:

OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research)
Description:

Non-methane hydrocarbons such as ethane are important precursors to tropospheric ozone and aerosols. Using data from a global surface network and atmospheric column observations we show that the steady decline in the ethane mole fraction that began in the 1970s(1-3) halted between 2005 and 2010 in most of the Northern Hemisphere and has since reversed. We calculate a yearly increase in ethane emissions in the Northern Hemisphere of 0.42 (+/- 0.19) Tg yr(-1) between mid-2009 and mid-2014. The largest increases in ethane and the shorter-lived propane are seen over the central and eastern USA, with a spatial distribution that suggests North American oil and natural gas development as the primary source of increasing emissions. By including other co-emitted oil and natural gas non-methane hydrocarbons, we estimate a Northern Hemisphere total non-methane hydrocarbon yearly emission increase of 1.2 (+/- 0.8) Tg yr(-1). Atmospheric chemical transport modelling suggests that these emissions could augment summertime mean surface ozone by several nanomoles per mole near oil and natural gas production regions. Methane/ethane oil and natural gas emission ratios could suggest a significant increase in associated methane emissions; however, this increase is inconsistent with observed leak rates in production regions and changes in methane's global isotopic ratio.
Source:

Nature Geoscience, 9(7), 490.
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2721
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Journal Article
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