Quantifying fossil fuel methane emissions using observations of atmospheric ethane and an uncertain emission ratio

Ramsden, Alice E.; Ganesan, Anita L.; Western, Luke M.; Rigby, Matthew; Manning, Alistair J.; Foulds, Amy; France, James L.; Barker, Patrick; Levy, Peter; Say, Daniel; Wisher, Adam; Arnold, Tim; Rennick, Chris; Stanley, Kieran M.; Young, Dickon; O'Doherty, Simon

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3911-2022

Articles | Volume 22, issue 6

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3911-2022

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

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3911-2022

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

Articles | Volume 22, issue 6

Research article

|

25 Mar 2022

Research article |

| 25 Mar 2022

Quantifying fossil fuel methane emissions using observations of atmospheric ethane and an uncertain emission ratio

Alice E. Ramsden, Anita L. Ganesan, Luke M. Western, Matthew Rigby, Alistair J. Manning, Amy Foulds, James L. France, Patrick Barker, Peter Levy, Daniel Say, Adam Wisher, Tim Arnold, Chris Rennick, Kieran M. Stanley, Dickon Young, and Simon O'Doherty

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3911-2022-supplement

Data sets

Mace Head trace gas observations AGAGE Team https://agage2.eas.gatech.edu/data_archive/agage/gc-md/complete/macehead/

Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions Team EDGAR https://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/dataset_ghg60

Methane Observations and Yearly Assessments (MOYA) MOYA Team https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/dd2b03d085c5494a8cbfc6b4b99ca702

Met Office Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) System Met Office NAME Team https://data.ceda.ac.uk/badc/ukmo-nwp

N20, SF6, CO, H2 and other trace gas species measurements from Tacolneston Tall Tower, Norfolk DECC Network https://data.ceda.ac.uk/badc/uk-decc-network/data/Tacolneston

N20, SF6, CO, H2 and other trace gas species measurements from Bilsdale Tall Tower, North York Moors National Park DECC Network https://data.ceda.ac.uk/badc/uk-decc-network/data/Bilsdale

N20, SF6, CO, H2 and other trace gas species measurements from Ridge Hill Tall Tower, Herefordshire DECC Network https://data.ceda.ac.uk/badc/uk-decc-network/data/Ridge_Hill/

N20, SF6, CO, H2 and other trace gas species measurements from Heathfield Tall Tower, East Sussex DECC Network https://data.ceda.ac.uk/badc/uk-decc-network/data/Heathfield/

Model code and software

Tracer inverse model Alice E. Ramsden https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/VH8ND

UKGHG Peter Levy https://github.com/NERC-CEH/ukghg

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Short summary

Quantifying methane emissions from different sources is a key focus of current research. We present a method for estimating sectoral methane emissions that uses ethane as a tracer for fossil fuel methane. By incorporating variable ethane : methane emission ratios into this model, we produce emissions estimates with improved uncertainty characterisation. This method will be particularly useful for studying methane emissions in areas with complex distributions of sources.