Estimating methane emissions from biological and fossil‐fuel sources in the San Francisco Bay Area

Jeong, Seongeun; Cui, Xinguang; Blake, Donald R.; Miller, Ben; Montzka, Stephen A.; Andrews, Arlyn; Guha, Abhinav; Martien, Philip; Bambha, Ray P.; LaFranchi, Brian; Michelsen, Hope A.; Clements, Craig B.; Glaize, Pierre; Fischer, Marc L.

doi:10.1002/2016GL071794

Title: Estimating methane emissions from biological and fossil‐fuel sources in the San Francisco Bay Area

Journal Article · Mon Jan 09 00:00:00 EST 2017 · Geophysical Research Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071794· OSTI ID:1402329

^[1];

^[1]; Blake, Donald R. ^[2];

^[3];

^[3]; Guha, Abhinav ^[4];

^[4]; Bambha, Ray P. ^[5];

^[5]; Michelsen, Hope A. ^[5];

^[6];

^[1]

Energy Analysis and Environmental Impacts Division Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley California USA
Department of Chemistry University of California Irvine California USA
Earth System Research Laboratory NOAA Boulder Colorado USA
Bay Area Air Quality Management District San Francisco California USA
Sandia National Laboratories Livermore California USA
Department of Meteorology and Climate Science San Jose State University San Jose California USA

Abstract We present the first sector‐specific analysis of methane (CH ₄ ) emissions from the San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA) using CH ₄ and volatile organic compound (VOC) measurements from six sites during September – December 2015. We apply a hierarchical Bayesian inversion to separate the biological from fossil‐fuel (natural gas and petroleum) sources using the measurements of CH ₄ and selected VOCs, a source‐specific 1 km CH ₄ emission model, and an atmospheric transport model. We estimate that SFBA CH ₄ emissions are 166–289 Gg CH ₄ /yr (at 95% confidence), 1.3–2.3 times higher than a recent inventory with much of the underestimation from landfill. Including the VOCs, 82 ± 27% of total posterior median CH ₄ emissions are biological and 17 ± 3% fossil fuel, where landfill and natural gas dominate the biological and fossil‐fuel CH ₄ of prior emissions, respectively.

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Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: DE‐AC02‐05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1402329

Journal Information:: Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Vol. 44 Journal Issue: 1; ISSN 0094-8276

Publisher:: American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 23 works

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