Space-based observations of tropospheric ethane map emissions from fossil fuel extraction.

Autor: Brewer JF; University of Minnesota, Department of Soil, Water, and Climate, Saint Paul, MN, USA., Millet DB; University of Minnesota, Department of Soil, Water, and Climate, Saint Paul, MN, USA. dbm@umn.edu., Wells KC; University of Minnesota, Department of Soil, Water, and Climate, Saint Paul, MN, USA., Payne VH; NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA., Kulawik S; BAER Institute, Petaluma, CA, USA., Vigouroux C; Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB), Brussels, Belgium., Cady-Pereira KE; Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Lexington, MA, USA., Pernak R; Atmospheric and Environmental Research, Lexington, MA, USA., Zhou M; Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Nature communications [Nat Commun] 2024 Sep 07; Vol. 15 (1), pp. 7829. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Sep 07.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52247-z
Abstrakt: Ethane is the most abundant non-methane hydrocarbon in the troposphere, where it impacts ozone and reactive nitrogen and is a key tracer used for partitioning emitted methane between anthropogenic and natural sources. However, quantification has been challenged by sparse observations. Here, we present a satellite-based measurement of tropospheric ethane and demonstrate its utility for fossil-fuel source quantification. An ethane spectral signal is detectable from space in Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) radiances, revealing ethane signatures associated with fires and fossil fuel production. We use machine-learning to convert these signals to ethane abundances and validate the results against surface observations (R 2  = 0.66, mean CrIS/surface ratio: 0.65). The CrIS data show that the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico exhibits the largest persistent ethane enhancements on the planet, with regional emissions underestimated by seven-fold. Correcting this underestimate reveals Permian ethane emissions that represent at least 4-7% of the global fossil-fuel ethane source.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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