Large Fugitive Methane Emissions From Urban Centers Along the U.S. East Coast
| Autor: | Genevieve Plant, A. Gvakharia, Cody Floerchinger, Eric A. Kort, Isaac Vimont, Colm Sweeney |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2019 |
| Předmět: |
Methane emissions
Atmospheric Science 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Pollution: Urban Regional and Global Megacities and Urban Environment Atmospheric Composition and Structure Biogeosciences 010502 geochemistry & geophysics Atmospheric sciences 01 natural sciences Methane chemistry.chemical_compound Natural gas Research Letter Instruments and Techniques 0105 earth and related environmental sciences East coast aircraft observations business.industry Marine Pollution methane Aerosols and Particles urban emissions Research Letters Oceanography: General Pollution: Urban and Regional Geophysics chemistry Carbon dioxide General Earth and Planetary Sciences Environmental science business Natural Hazards Carbon monoxide |
| Zdroj: | Geophysical Research Letters |
| ISSN: | 1944-8007 0094-8276 |
| DOI: | 10.1029/2019gl082635 |
| Popis: | Urban emissions remain an underexamined part of the methane budget. Here we present and interpret aircraft observations of six old and leak‐prone major cities along the East Coast of the United States. We use direct observations of methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), ethane (C2H6), and their correlations to quantify CH4 emissions and attribute to natural gas. We find the five largest cities emit 0.85 (0.63, 1.12) Tg CH4/year, of which 0.75 (0.49, 1.10) Tg CH4/year is attributed to natural gas. Our estimates, which include all thermogenic methane sources including end use, are more than twice that reported in the most recent gridded EPA inventory, which does not include end‐use emissions. These results highlight that current urban inventory estimates of natural gas emissions are substantially low, either due to underestimates of leakage, lack of inclusion of end‐use emissions, or some combination thereof. Key Points Aircraft observations downwind of six major cities along the U.S. East Coast are used to estimate urban methane emissionsObserved urban methane estimates are about twice that reported in the Gridded EPA inventoryMethane emissions from natural gas (including end use) in five cities combined exceeds nationwide emissions estimate from local distribution |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|
Plný text