Quantifying the loss of processed natural gas within California's South Coast Air Basin using long-term measurements of ethane and methane

Wunch, Debra; Toon, Geoffrey C.; Hedelius, Jacob K.; Vizenor, Nicholas; Roehl, Coleen M.; Saad, Katherine M.; Blavier, Jean-François L.; Blake, Donald R.; Wennberg, Paul O.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14091-2016

Articles | Volume 16, issue 22

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14091-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14091-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 22

Research article

| Highlight paper

|

15 Nov 2016

Research article | Highlight paper |

| 15 Nov 2016

Quantifying the loss of processed natural gas within California's South Coast Air Basin using long-term measurements of ethane and methane

Debra Wunch, Geoffrey C. Toon, Jacob K. Hedelius, Nicholas Vizenor, Coleen M. Roehl, Katherine M. Saad, Jean-François L. Blavier, Donald R. Blake, and Paul O. Wennberg

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Final revised paper (published on 15 Nov 2016)
Preprint (discussion started on 17 May 2016)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

SC1: 'Effect of drought on microbial oxidation of CH4 and C2H6', David Lyon, 14 Jun 2016
- AC1: 'Response to D. Lyon', Debra Wunch, 09 Sep 2016
RC1: 'Review of "Quantifying the Loss of Processed Natural Gas..." by D. Wunch et al.', Anonymous Referee #1, 14 Jun 2016
- AC2: 'Response to Referee #1', Debra Wunch, 09 Sep 2016
RC2: 'Review of “Quantifying the Loss of Processed Natural Gas Within California's South Coast Air Basin Using Long-term Measurements of Ethane and Methane”', Anonymous Referee #2, 15 Jun 2016
- AC3: 'Response to Referee #2', Debra Wunch, 09 Sep 2016
RC3: 'Review of "Quantifying the Loss of Processed Natural Gas Within California's South Coast Air Basin Using Long-term Measurements of Ethane and Methane"', Anonymous Referee #3, 17 Jun 2016
- AC4: 'Response to Referee #3', Debra Wunch, 09 Sep 2016
RC4: 'Review of Quantifying the Loss of Processed Natural Gas Within California's South Coast Air Basin Using Long-term Measurements of Ethane and Methane', Anonymous Referee #4, 21 Jun 2016
- AC5: 'Response to Referee #4', Debra Wunch, 09 Sep 2016

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Debra Wunch on behalf of the Authors (13 Sep 2016) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (18 Oct 2016) by Rainer Volkamer

AR by Debra Wunch on behalf of the Authors (28 Oct 2016) Author's response Manuscript

Short summary

This paper investigates the cause of the known underestimate of bottom-up inventories of methane in California's South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB). We use total column measurements of methane, ethane, carbon monoxide, and other trace gases beginning in the late 1980s to calculate emissions and attribute sources of excess methane to the atmosphere. We conclude that more than half of the excess methane to the SoCAB atmosphere is attributable to processed natural gas.