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Title: Estimating methane emissions in California's urban and rural regions using multitower observations

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JD025404· OSTI ID:1342759
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [1];  [1];  [6];  [7];  [7];  [8];  [3];  [3];  [9];  [9];  [8];  [8];  [7];  [7];  [1]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
  3. Univ. of California, Riverside, CA (United States)
  4. NOAA, Boulder, CO (United States)
  5. NOAA, Boulder, CO (United States); Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
  6. Imperial College London, London (United Kingdom)
  7. Univ. of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States)
  8. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
  9. Earth Networks, Germantown, MD (United States)

Here, we present an analysis of methane (CH4) emissions using atmospheric observations from 36 thirteen sites in California during June 2013 – May 2014. A hierarchical Bayesian inversion 37 method is used to estimate CH4 emissions for spatial regions (0.3° pixels for major regions) by 38 comparing measured CH4 mixing ratios with transport model (WRF-STILT) predictions based 39 on seasonally varying California-specific CH4 prior emission models. The transport model is 40 assessed using a combination of meteorological and carbon monoxide (CO) measurements 41 coupled with the gridded California Air Resources Board (CARB) carbon monoxide (CO) 42 emission inventory. Hierarchical Bayesian inversion suggests that state annual anthropogenic 43 CH4 emissions are 2.42 ± 0.49 Tg CH4/yr (at 95% confidence, including transport bias 44 uncertainty), higher (1.2 - 1.8 times) than the CARB current inventory (1.64 Tg CH4/yr in 2013). 45 We note that the estimated CH4 emissions drop to 1.0 - 1.6 times the CARB inventory if we 46 correct for the 10% median CH4 emissions assuming the bias in CO analysis is applicable to 47 CH4. The CH4 emissions from the Central Valley and urban regions (San Francisco Bay and 48 South Coast Air Basins) account for ~58% and 26% of the total posterior emissions, 49 respectively. This study suggests that the livestock sector is likely the major contributor to the 50 state total CH4 emissions, in agreement with CARB’s inventory. Attribution to source sectors for 51 sub-regions of California using additional trace gas species would further improve the 52 quantification of California’s CH4 emissions and mitigation efforts towards the California Global 53 Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB-32).

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Energy Analysis & Environmental Impacts; USDOE
OSTI ID:
1342759
Report Number(s):
LBNL-1005846; ir:1005846
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 121, Issue 21; ISSN 2169-897X
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 39 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (13)

Estimating methane emissions from biological and fossil-fuel sources in the San Francisco Bay Area: Methane Emissions in the SF Bay Area journal January 2017
Simulating estimation of California fossil fuel and biosphere carbon dioxide exchanges combining in situ tower and satellite column observations journal March 2017
Spatio‐temporally Resolved Methane Fluxes From the Los Angeles Megacity journal May 2019
Assessing fossil fuel CO 2 emissions in California using atmospheric observations and models journal May 2018
Revised methane emissions factors and spatially distributed annual carbon fluxes for global livestock journal September 2017
Reduced Methane Emissions from Santa Barbara Marine Seeps journal November 2017
Constraining sector-specific CO 2 and CH 4 emissions in the US journal January 2017
How a European network may help with estimating methane emissions on the French national scale journal January 2018
Photochemical production of ozone and emissions of NOx and CH4 in the San Joaquin Valley journal January 2019
Intercomparison of atmospheric trace gas dispersion models: Barnett Shale case study journal January 2019
Characterizing uncertainties in atmospheric inversions of fossil fuel CO2 emissions in California journal January 2019
Quantification of CO 2 and CH 4 emissions over Sacramento, California, based on divergence theorem using aircraft measurements journal January 2019
Vista-LA: Mapping methane-emitting infrastructure in the Los Angeles megacity journal January 2018

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