Contribution of oil and natural gas production to renewed increase in atmospheric methane (2007–2014): top–down estimate from ethane and methane  column observations

Hausmann, Petra; Sussmann, Ralf; Smale, Dan

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3227-2016

Articles | Volume 16, issue 5

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3227-2016

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

Special issue:

Twenty-five years of operations of the Network for the Detection...

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3227-2016

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

Articles | Volume 16, issue 5

Research article

|

11 Mar 2016

Research article |

| 11 Mar 2016

Contribution of oil and natural gas production to renewed increase in atmospheric methane (2007–2014): top–down estimate from ethane and methane column observations

Petra Hausmann, Ralf Sussmann, and Dan Smale

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Final revised paper (published on 11 Mar 2016)
Preprint (discussion started on 21 Dec 2015)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

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

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RC C11715: 'Referee Review of “Contribution of oil and natural gas production to renewed increase of atmospheric methane (2007–2014): top-down estimate from ethane and methane column observations” by P. Hausmann et al.', Anonymous Referee #1, 19 Jan 2016
RC C12098: 'Review of Hausmann et al.: acp-2015-972', Anonymous Referee #2, 29 Jan 2016
AC C12531: 'Author response to all referee comments', Petra Hausmann, 18 Feb 2016

Peer-review completion

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

AR by Petra Hausmann on behalf of the Authors (18 Feb 2016) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (05 Mar 2016) by Hal Maring

Short summary

After a period of stagnation, atmospheric methane started to rise again in 2007. The main drivers are assumed to be increased wetland emissions and fossil fuel production. Here, we quantify the oil and natural gas emission contribution. Our estimate is inferred from ground-based column observations of methane and ethane. We find a significant oil-gas contribution of at least 39% (18%, 73%) in three emission scenarios, calling for emission reduction strategies in growing oil and gas industries.