i
US CH4 emissions from oil and gas production: Have recent large increases been detected?
-
2017
Source: Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 122(7), 4070-4083.
Details:
-
Journal Title:Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
-
Personal Author:
-
NOAA Program & Office:
-
Description:Recent studies have proposed significant increases in CH4 emissions possibly from oil and gas (O&G) production, especially for the U.S. where O&G production has reached historically high levels over the past decade. In this study, we show that an ensemble of time-dependent atmospheric inversions constrained by calibrated atmospheric observations of surface CH4 mole fraction, with some including space-based retrievals of column average CH4 mole fractions, suggests that North American CH4 emissions have been flat over years spanning 2000 through 2012. Estimates of emission trends using zonal gradients of column average CH4 calculated relative to an upstream background are not easy to make due to atmospheric variability, relative insensitivity of column average CH4 to surface emissions at regional scales, and fast zonal synoptic transport. In addition, any trends in continental enhancements of column average CH4 are sensitive to how the upstream background is chosen, and model simulations imply that short-term (4years or less) trends in column average CH4 horizontal gradients of up to 1.5ppb/yr can occur just from interannual transport variability acting on a strong latitudinal CH4 gradient. Finally, trends in spatial gradients calculated from space-based column average CH4 can be significantly biased (>2-3ppb/yr) due to the nonuniform and seasonally varying temporal coverage of satellite retrievals. Plain Language Summary In this paper we address recent claims of significant increases in methane emissions from U.S. oil and gas production. We find that such claims are inconsistent with observations by examining atmospheric inversions and observations from the NOAA aircraft monitoring program. Furthermore, we show how atmospheric variability, sampling biases, and choice of upwind background can lead to spurious trends in atmospheric column average methane when using both in situ and space-based retrievals.
-
Source:Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 122(7), 4070-4083.
-
Document Type:
-
Rights Information:Other
-
Compliance:Submitted
-
Main Document Checksum:urn:sha256:30acdca64a5378fb4df1da75aa8bc023b93fe0af7cabe4a4de7088645bb501d6
-
File Type:
Supporting Files
-
No Additional Files
More +
Related Documents
-
Personal Author:Tulich, S. N.2015 | Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 7(2), 938-962.Description:This paper describes a general method for the treatment of convective momentum transport (CMT) in large-scale dynamical solvers that use a cyclic, two...2018 | Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 123(21), 12368-12393.Description:We examine the distribution and fate of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the lower troposphere over the Northeast United States (NE US) using aircraft observa...2017 | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 17(2), 1161-1186.Description:We report measurements of CH4 (measured in situ by the Harvard University Picarro Cavity Ringdown Spectrometer (HUPCRS) and NOAA Unmanned Aircraft Sys...2017 | Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 10(8), 2941-2968.Description:VOCs related to oil and gas extraction operations in the United States were measured by H3O+ chemical ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (H3O...2017 | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 17(8), 5331-5354.Description:Ambient pine forest air was oxidized by OH, O-3, or NO3 radicals using an oxidation flow reactor (OFR) during the BEACHON-RoMBAS (Bio-hydro-atmosphere...2017 | Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 9(1), 627-646.Description:Low and high clouds of shallow extent, especially stratocumulus and even more so for high-level cirrus clouds that reside where vertical resolution is...2017 | Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 10(5), 1911-1926.Description:The sum of all reactive nitrogen species (NOy) includes NOx (NO2 + NO) and all of its oxidized forms, and the accurate detection of NOy is critical to...Personal Author:Vander Woude, Andrea ;Ruberg, Steve...2019 | Journal of Great Lakes Research, 45(3), 536-546.Description:NOAA GLERL has routinely flown a hyperspectral imager to detect cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) over the Great Lakes since 2015. Three ...Personal Author:Churnside, James ;Marchbanks, Richard...2017 | Remote Sensing, 9(4), 12.Description:The optical backscattering from particles in the ocean is an important quantity that has been measured by remote sensing techniques and in situ instru...2017 | Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 122(7), 3944-3952.Description:In the current study, the electromagnetic properties of porous aerosol particles are calculated in two ways. In the first, a porous target input file ...Personal Author:Butler, A H ;Daniel, J S...2016 | Environmental Research Letters, 11(6), 064017.Description:Due to the success of the Montreal Protocol in limiting emissions of ozone-depleting substances, concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, nitrous...2017 | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 17(11), 7193-7212.Description:Measurements of primary biological aerosol particles (PBAP), especially at altitudes relevant to cloud formation, are scarce. Single-particle mass spe...Personal Author:Zaragoza, Jake ;Callahan, Sara...2017 | Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 122(22), 12416-12432.Description:We report on measurements of acyl peroxy nitrates (APNs) obtained from two ground sites and the NSF/National Center for Atmospheric Research C-130 air...2017 | Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 122(2), 1261-1280.Description:Much attention has been focused on the transport of ozone (O-3) to the western U.S., particularly given the latest revision of the National Ambient Ai...Personal Author:Kim, Jinwoong ;Kim, Hyun Mee...2017 | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 17(4), 2881-2899.Description:To investigate the effect of additional CO2 observations in the Siberia region on the Asian and global surface CO2 flux analyses, two experiments usin...2017 | Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 10(10), 3833-3850.Description:At local scales, emissions of methane and carbon dioxide are highly uncertain. Localized sources of both trace gases can create strong local gradients...Gradients of column CO2 across North America from the NOAA Global Greenhouse Gas Reference NetworkCite2017 | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 17(24), 15151-15165.Description:This study analyzes seasonal and spatial patterns of column carbon dioxide (CO2) over North America, calculated from aircraft and tall tower measureme...2017 | Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 10(12), 4805-4818.Description:A new photometer is described for continuous determination of the aerosol light absorption coefficient, optimized for long-term studies of the climate...Personal Author:Lonsdale, Chantelle R. ;Hegarty, Jennifer D....2017 | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 17(4), 2721-2739.Description:NH3 retrievals from the NASA Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES), as well as surface and aircraft observations of NH3(g) and submicron NH4(p), ar...Personal Author:Wood, Eric F. ;Schubert, Siegfried D....2015 | Journal of Hydrometeorology, 16(4), 1636-1657.Description:This paper summarizes and synthesizes the research carried out under the NOAA Drought Task Force (DTF) and submitted in this special collection. The D...
More +
You May Also Like
Personal Author:
Pétron, Gabrielle ;
Miller, Benjamin
...
2020 | Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene (2020) 8 (1): 038.
Description:
In 2014, a satellite-based map of regional anomalies of atmospheric methane (CH4) column retrievals singled out the fossil fuel rich San Juan Basin (S...