Temporal variability largely explains top-down/bottom-up difference in methane emission estimates from a natural gas production region
Abstract
Here, this study spatially and temporally aligns top-down and bottom-up methane emission estimates for a natural gas production basin, using multiscale emission measurements and detailed activity data reporting. We show that episodic venting from manual liquid unloadings, which occur at a small fraction of natural gas well pads, drives a factor-of-two temporal variation in the basin-scale emission rate of a US dry shale gas play. The midafternoon peak emission rate aligns with the sampling time of all regional aircraft emission studies, which target well-mixed boundary layer conditions present in the afternoon. A mechanistic understanding of emission estimates derived from various methods is critical for unbiased emission verification and effective greenhouse gas emission mitigation. Our results demonstrate that direct comparison of emission estimates from methods covering widely different timescales can be misleading.
- Authors:
-
[1];
[2];
[3];
- Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
- Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States)
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis, Golden, CO (United States)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Boulder, CO (United States)
- Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- Colorado Energy Research Collaboratory; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Program Office; Southwestern Energy; XTO Energy; USDOE
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1483064
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-6A20-70770
Journal ID: ISSN 0027-8424
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 115; Journal Issue: 46; Journal ID: ISSN 0027-8424
- Publisher:
- National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC (United States)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 03 NATURAL GAS; natural gas; methane emissions; top-down; bottom-up; spatiotemporal inventory model
Citation Formats
Vaughn, Timothy L., Bell, Clay S., Pickering, Cody K., Schwietzke, Stefan, Heath, Garvin A., Pétron, Gabrielle, Zimmerle, Daniel J., Schnell, Russell C., and Nummedal, Dag. Temporal variability largely explains top-down/bottom-up difference in methane emission estimates from a natural gas production region. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1073/pnas.1805687115.
Vaughn, Timothy L., Bell, Clay S., Pickering, Cody K., Schwietzke, Stefan, Heath, Garvin A., Pétron, Gabrielle, Zimmerle, Daniel J., Schnell, Russell C., & Nummedal, Dag. Temporal variability largely explains top-down/bottom-up difference in methane emission estimates from a natural gas production region. United States. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805687115
Vaughn, Timothy L., Bell, Clay S., Pickering, Cody K., Schwietzke, Stefan, Heath, Garvin A., Pétron, Gabrielle, Zimmerle, Daniel J., Schnell, Russell C., and Nummedal, Dag. Mon .
"Temporal variability largely explains top-down/bottom-up difference in methane emission estimates from a natural gas production region". United States. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805687115. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1483064.
@article{osti_1483064,
title = {Temporal variability largely explains top-down/bottom-up difference in methane emission estimates from a natural gas production region},
author = {Vaughn, Timothy L. and Bell, Clay S. and Pickering, Cody K. and Schwietzke, Stefan and Heath, Garvin A. and Pétron, Gabrielle and Zimmerle, Daniel J. and Schnell, Russell C. and Nummedal, Dag},
abstractNote = {Here, this study spatially and temporally aligns top-down and bottom-up methane emission estimates for a natural gas production basin, using multiscale emission measurements and detailed activity data reporting. We show that episodic venting from manual liquid unloadings, which occur at a small fraction of natural gas well pads, drives a factor-of-two temporal variation in the basin-scale emission rate of a US dry shale gas play. The midafternoon peak emission rate aligns with the sampling time of all regional aircraft emission studies, which target well-mixed boundary layer conditions present in the afternoon. A mechanistic understanding of emission estimates derived from various methods is critical for unbiased emission verification and effective greenhouse gas emission mitigation. Our results demonstrate that direct comparison of emission estimates from methods covering widely different timescales can be misleading.},
doi = {10.1073/pnas.1805687115},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
number = 46,
volume = 115,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 29 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Mon Oct 29 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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