Identification

Title

Separation of methane emissions from agricultural and natural gas sources in the Colorado Front Range

Abstract

This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that methane (CH4) emissions from natural gas (NG) and agriculture can be disentangled using the concept of excess column observations. A network of cost-effective sensors measured excess column-averaged dry-air mole fractions for CH4 (Delta XCH4), ethane (Delta XC2H6 as NG tracer), and ammonia (Delta XNH3 from agriculture) in the Denver-Julesburg Basin during March 2015. Delta XCH4 varied up to 17ppb and was >3 times higher with winds from directions where NG is produced. The Delta XCH4 variance is explained by variations in the C2H6-NH3 tracer pair, attributing 63 +/- 17% to NG, 25 +/- 10% to agriculture, and 12 +/- 12% to other sources. The ratios Delta XC2H6/Delta XCH4 (16 +/- 2%; indicates wet NG) and Delta XNH3/Delta XCH4 (43 +/- 12%) were compatible with in situ measured ratios. Excess columns are independent of boundary layer height, characterize gases in the open atmosphere, are inherently calibrated, average over extended spatial scales, and provide a complementary perspective to quantify and attribute CH4 emissions on regional scales.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7th8qss

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2019-04-16T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact