Atmospheric methane isotopes identify inventory knowledge gaps in the Surat Basin, Australia,  coal seam gas and agricultural regions

Kelly, Bryce F. J.; Lu, Xinyi; Harris, Stephen J.; Neininger, Bruno G.; Hacker, Jorg M.; Schwietzke, Stefan; Fisher, Rebecca E.; France, James L.; Nisbet, Euan G.; Lowry, David; van der Veen, Carina; Menoud, Malika; Röckmann, Thomas

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15527-2022

Articles | Volume 22, issue 23

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15527-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15527-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 23

Research article

|

12 Dec 2022

Research article |

| 12 Dec 2022

Atmospheric methane isotopes identify inventory knowledge gaps in the Surat Basin, Australia, coal seam gas and agricultural regions

Bryce F. J. Kelly, Xinyi Lu, Stephen J. Harris, Bruno G. Neininger, Jorg M. Hacker, Stefan Schwietzke, Rebecca E. Fisher, James L. France, Euan G. Nisbet, David Lowry, Carina van der Veen, Malika Menoud, and Thomas Röckmann

Data sets

Coal seam gas industry methane emissions in the Surat Basin, Australia: Comparing airborne measure- ments with inventories B. G. Neininger, B. F. J. Kelly, J. M. Hacker, X. Lu, and S. Schwietzke https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2020.0458

Model code and software

MultiNonlinearModelFit S. Smit https://resources.wolframcloud.com/FunctionRepository/resources/MultiNonlinearModelFit

Short summary

This study explores using the composition of methane of in-flight atmospheric air samples for greenhouse gas inventory verification. The air samples were collected above one of the largest coal seam gas production regions in the world. Adjacent to these gas fields are coal mines, Australia's largest cattle feedlot, and over 1 million grazing cattle. The results are also used to identify methane mitigation opportunities.