Abstract
Methane emissions due to accidents in the oil and natural gas sector are very challenging to monitor, and hence are seldom considered in emission inventories and reporting. One of the main reasons is the lack of measurements during such events. Here we report the detection of large methane emissions from a gas well blowout in Ohio during February to March 2018 in the total column methane measurements from the spaceborne Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI). From these data, we derive a methane emission rate of 120 ± 32 metric tons per hour. This hourly emission rate is twice that of the widely reported Aliso Canyon event in California in 2015. Assuming the detected emission represents the average rate for the 20-d blowout period, we find the total methane emission from the well blowout is comparable to one-quarter of the entire state of Ohio’s reported annual oil and natural gas methane emission, or, alternatively, a substantial fraction of the annual anthropogenic methane emissions from several European countries. Our work demonstrates the strength and effectiveness of routine satellite measurements in detecting and quantifying greenhouse gas emission from unpredictable events. In this specific case, the magnitude of a relatively unknown yet extremely large accidental leakage was revealed using measurements of TROPOMI in its routine global survey, providing quantitative assessment of associated methane emissions.
Funder
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
Publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Reference37 articles.
1. G. Myhre ., “Anthropogenic and natural radiative forcing” in Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, T. F. Stocker ., Eds. (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2013), pp. 659–740.
2. What Role for Short-Lived Climate Pollutants in Mitigation Policy?
3. Methane Emissions from United States Natural Gas Gathering and Processing
4. Methane emissions from the 2015 Aliso Canyon blowout in Los Angeles, CA
5. Greater focus needed on methane leakage from natural gas infrastructure
Cited by
98 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献