Articles | Volume 22, issue 7
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4303-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4303-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
04 Apr 2022
Research article |
| 04 Apr 2022
| 04 Apr 2022
Quantification and assessment of methane emissions from offshore oil and gas facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf
Amy Foulds
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom
Jacob T. Shaw
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom
Prudence Bateson
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom
Patrick A. Barker
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom
Langwen Huang
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom
Joseph R. Pitt
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom
now at: School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol, BS8 1TS, United Kingdom
James D. Lee
Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom
Shona E. Wilde
Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom
Pamela Dominutti
Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom
now at: Laboratoire de Météorologie Physique, Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, 63000, France
Ruth M. Purvis
Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, United Kingdom
David Lowry
Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, United Kingdom
James L. France
Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, United Kingdom
Rebecca E. Fisher
Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, United Kingdom
Alina Fiehn
Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Magdalena Pühl
Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Stéphane J. B. Bauguitte
FAAM Airborne Laboratory, National Centre for Atmospheric Sciences, Building 146, College Road, Cranfield, MK43 0AL, United Kingdom
Stephen A. Conley
Scientific Aviation, Inc., 3335 Airport Road Suite B, Boulder, Colorado 80301, United States
Mackenzie L. Smith
Scientific Aviation, Inc., 3335 Airport Road Suite B, Boulder, Colorado 80301, United States
Tom Lachlan-Cope
British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, United Kingdom
Ignacio Pisso
Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU), Kjeller, Norway
Stefan Schwietzke
Environmental Defense Fund, Berlin, Germany
Related authors
Magdalena Pühl, Anke Roiger, Alina Fiehn, Alan M. Gorchov Negron, Eric A. Kort, Stefan Schwietzke, Ignacio Pisso, Amy Foulds, James Lee, James L. France, Anna E. Jones, Dave Lowry, Rebecca E. Fisher, Langwen Huang, Jacob Shaw, Prudence Bateson, Stephen Andrews, Stuart Young, Pamela Dominutti, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Alexandra Weiss, and Grant Allen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1005–1024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1005-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1005-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In April–May 2019 we carried out an airborne field campaign in the southern North Sea with the aim of studying methane emissions of offshore gas installations. We determined methane emissions from elevated methane measured downstream of the sampled installations. We compare our measured methane emissions with estimated methane emissions from national and global annual inventories. As a result, we find inconsistencies of inventories and large discrepancies between measurements and inventories.
Jacob T. Shaw, Amy Foulds, Shona Wilde, Patrick Barker, Freya A. Squires, James Lee, Ruth Purvis, Ralph Burton, Ioana Colfescu, Stephen Mobbs, Samuel Cliff, Stéphane J.-B. Bauguitte, Stuart Young, Stefan Schwietzke, and Grant Allen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1491–1509, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1491-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1491-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Flaring is used by the oil and gas sector to dispose of unwanted natural gas or for safety. However, few studies have assessed the efficiency with which the gas is combusted. We sampled flaring emissions from offshore facilities in the North Sea. Average measured flaring efficiencies were ~ 98 % but with a skewed distribution, including many flares of lower efficiency. NOx and ethane emissions were also measured. Inefficient flaring practices could be a target for mitigating carbon emissions.
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
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3911–3929, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3911-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3911-2022, 2022
Short summary
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.
Audrey McManemin, Catherine Juéry, Vincent Blandin, James L. France, Philippine Burdeau, and Adam R. Brandt
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3793, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3793, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
Short summary
Short summary
This experiment tested the ability of different technologies to detect and measure methane emissions. Participating teams used satellites, drones, and other systems to estimate methane leak rates without knowing the true rate. Some systems were more accurate than others, and wind and other environmental conditions made measurements harder. Our findings help improve these tools and support efforts to track and reduce methane emissions as new environmental rules take shape in Europe and beyond.
Loren Temple, Stuart Young, Thomas Bannan, Stephanie Batten, Stéphane Bauguitte, Hugh Coe, Eve Grant, Stuart Lacy, James Lee, Emily Matthews, Dominika Pasternak, Samuel Rogers, Andrew Rollins, Jake Vallow, Mingxi Yang, and Pete Edwards
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3678, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3678, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
Short summary
Short summary
Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is a key precursor to aerosol formation, particularly in remote marine environments, ultimately affecting cloud properties and climate. Accurate quantification of atmospheric SO2 is therefore crucial. This work compares a custom-built laser-based instrument to two commercial SO2 analysers during measurements from a large research aircraft. Our results show that this custom-built system offers greater sensitivity at time resolutions required for aircraft measurements.
Judith Tettenborn, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Daan Stroeken, Hossein Maazallahi, Carina van der Veen, Arjan Hensen, Ilona Velzeboer, Pim van den Bulk, Felix Vogel, Lawson Gillespie, Sebastien Ars, James France, David Lowry, Rebecca Fisher, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3569–3584, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3569-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3569-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Measurements of methane with vehicle-based sensors are an effective method to identify and quantify leaks from urban gas distribution systems. We deliberately released methane in different environments and calibrated the response of different methane analysers when they transected the plumes in a vehicle. We derived an improved statistical function for consistent emission estimations using different instruments. Repeated transects reduce the uncertainty in emission rate estimates.
Taku Umezawa, Yukio Terao, Masahito Ueyama, Satoshi Kameyama, Mark Lunt, and James Lawrence France
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3285, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3285, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
To take effective mitigation actions, accurate understanding of methane emission characteristics in cities is important. We conducted atmospheric methane and ethane measurements using a vehicle in the world’s largest megacity, Tokyo, to identify locations and types of emissions and estimate their magnitudes. Waste sectors and fugitive natural gas emissions were found to be the major urban sources, and our data suggested need of improved accounting of natural gas related emissions.
Paul Waldmann, Max Eckl, Leon Knez, Klaus-Dirk Gottschaldt, Alina Fiehn, Christian Mallaun, Michal Galkowski, Christoph Kiemle, Ronald Hutjes, Thomas Röckmann, Huilin Chen, and Anke Roiger
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3297, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3297, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
Short summary
Short summary
Nitrous oxide and methane emissions from agriculture need to be reduced, therefore emissions must be understood to effectively mitigate them. This is the first approach to measure those emissions aircraft-based, to assess their magnitude and drivers. We identified emission hotspots and temporal changes in agricultural emissions in the Netherlands. Our approach is applicable to further greenhouse gas emitters, therefore it builds a step towards more comprehensive emission quantification.
Vy Ngoc Thuy Dinh, Gaëlle Uzu, Pamela Dominutti, Stéphane Sauvage, Rhabira Elazzouzi, Sophie Darfeuil, Céline Voiron, Abdoulaye Samaké, Shouwen Zhang, Stéphane Socquet, Olivier Favez, and Jean-Luc Jaffrezo
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1968, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1968, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
PMF is widely used for apportion the source of particulate matter. However, the inherent model has some subjective aspects which should be reduce to ensure the robustness of the result. To do so, this study developed a systematic method, by performing tests on the input and the result validation. Finally, we proposed recommendations for input selection and result validation. A Python package is developed, providing advanced tools for input preparation, validation and visualization results.
Vy Ngoc Thuy Dinh, Jean-Luc Jaffrezo, Pamela Dominutti, Rhabira Elazzouzi, Sophie Darfeuil, Céline Voiron, Anouk Marsal, Stéphane Socquet, Gladys Mary, Julie Cozic, Catherine Coulaud, Marc Durif, Olivier Favez, and Gaëlle Uzu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2933, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2933, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Long-term particulate matter (PM) filter sampling at a French urban background and temperature measurements at different altitudes were used to investigate decadal trends of the main PM sources and related oxidative potential metrics. Positive Matrix Factorization analyses were conducted on the corresponding 11-year dataset, which determined ten PM sources. Temporal evolution of these sources is investigated, highlighting a strong downward trend of anthropogenic sources over 11 years.
Luke M. Western, Matthew Rigby, Jens Mühle, Paul B. Krummel, Chris R. Lunder, Simon O'Doherty, Stefan Reimann, Martin K. Vollmer, Dickon Young, Ben Adam, Paul J. Fraser, Anita L. Ganesan, Christina M. Harth, Ove Hermansen, Jooil Kim, Ray L. Langenfelds, Zoë M. Loh, Blagoj Mitrevski, Joseph R. Pitt, Peter K. Salameh, Roland Schmidt, Kieran Stanley, Ann R. Stavert, Hsiang-Jui Wang, Ray F. Weiss, and Ronald G. Prinn
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-348, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-348, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
We used global measurements and an atmospheric model to estimate how emissions and abundances of 42 chemically and radiatively important trace gases have changed over time. These gases affect the Earth's radiative balance and the ozone layer. Our data sets help track progress in reducing harmful. This work supports international efforts to protect the environment by providing clear, long-term, consistent data on how these gases are changing in the atmosphere.
Jacob T. Shaw, Neil Howes, Jessica Connolly, Dragos E. Buculei, Jamie Ryan, Jon Helmore, Nigel Yarrow, David Butterfield, Fabrizio Innocenti, and Rod Robinson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1451, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1451, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
Short summary
Short summary
The FEDS system is used to measure emissions from local-scale sources (up to about 1×1 km). To do this, FEDS uses a state-of-the-art gas analyser connected to lots of sampling locations. Controlled amounts of methane were released to test the accuracy of the FEDS method. Results were promising even when using different models to estimate the amounts of methane. Results were better when the wind was more stable. FEDS could be used for measuring emission sources over many months or seasons.
Bibhasvata Dasgupta, Malika Menoud, Carina van der Veen, Ingeborg Levin, Cora Veidt, Heiko Moossen, Sylvia Englund Michel, Peter Sperlich, Shinji Morimoto, Ryo Fujita, Taku Umezawa, Stephen Matthew Platt, Christine Groot Zwaaftink, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Rebecca Fisher, David Lowry, Euan Nisbet, James France, Ceres Woolley Maisch, Gordon Brailsford, Rowena Moss, Daisuke Goto, Sudhanshu Pandey, Sander Houweling, Nicola Warwick, and Thomas Röckmann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2439, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2439, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We combined long-term methane mole fraction and isotope measurements from eight laboratories that sample high-latitude stations to compare, offset correct and harmonise the datasets into a hemisphere merged timeseries. Because each laboratory uses slightly different methods, we adjusted the data to make it directly comparable. This allowed us to create a consistent record of atmospheric methane concentration and its isotopes from 1988 to 2023.
Gerrit Kuhlmann, Foteini Stavropoulou, Stefan Schwietzke, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Andrew Thorpe, Andreas Hueni, Lukas Emmenegger, Andreea Calcan, Thomas Röckmann, and Dominik Brunner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5371–5385, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5371-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5371-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
A measurement campaign in 2019 found that methane emissions from oil and gas in Romania were significantly higher than reported. In 2021, our follow-up campaign using airborne remote sensing showed a marked decreases in emissions by 20 %–60 % due to improved infrastructure. The study highlights the importance of measurement-based emission monitoring and illustrates the value of a multi-scale assessment integrating ground-based observations with large-scale airborne remote sensing campaigns.
Gregor Neumann, Andreas Marsing, Theresa Harlass, Daniel Sauer, Simon Braun, Magdalena Pühl, Christopher Heckl, Paul Stock, Elena De La Torre Castro, Valerian Hahn, Anke Roiger, Christiane Voigt, Simon Unterstraßer, Jean Cammas, Charles Renard, Roberta Vasenden, Arnold Vasenden, and Tina Jurkat-Witschas
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2026, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents the first successful in-flight emission characterization of a turboprop engine using a fully autonomous airborne measurement platform, offering new insights into the atmospheric impacts of regional aviation. By equipping the high-altitude Grob G 520 Egrett with a suite of custom and modified commercial instruments, we demonstrate precise, high-resolution measurements of aerosol particles, trace gases, and contrail ice in the engine exhaust plume at cruise altitudes.
Mark F. Lunt, Stephen J. Harris, Jorg Hacker, Ian Joynes, Tim Robertson, Simon Thompson, and James L. France
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1926, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1926, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
To ensure robust use of measurement-based approaches to estimate methane emissions from individual sites, it is important to validate the accuracy of the methods used in the field. By using co-emitted carbon dioxide, we evaluate the performance of one such quantification method at liquefied natural gas terminals. We further demonstrate the potential for a more efficient quantification approach by considering the ratio of methane to carbon dioxide concentrations.
Alexandra M. Catena, Mackenzie L. Smith, Lee T. Murray, Eric M. Leibensperger, Jie Zhang, Margaret J. Schwab, and James J. Schwab
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-135, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-135, 2025
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
Methane and carbon dioxide emission rates were calculated for facilities across several sectors in New York State using aerial observations. Of the sampled facilities, landfills dominated the methane emission rates while combustion facilities had the highest carbon dioxide emission rates, followed by landfills. The self-reported EPA inventory is mostly underestimating landfill methane emissions apart from a few facilities with comparable numbers.
Martin Vojta, Andreas Plach, Rona L. Thompson, Pallav Purohit, Kieran Stanley, Simon O’Doherty, Dickon Young, Joe Pitt, Xin Lan, and Andreas Stohl
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1095, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1095, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We determine European emissions of the highly potent greenhouse gas sulfur hexafluoride from 2005 to 2021 – focusing on high-emitting countries and the aggregated EU-27 emissions. Emissions declined in most regions, likely due to EU F-gas regulations. However, our results reveal that most studied countries underestimate their emissions in their national reports. Our sensitivity tests highlight the importance of dense observational networks for reliable inversion-based emission estimates.
Tannaz H. Mohammadloo, Matthew Jones, Bas van de Kerkhof, Kyle Dawson, Brendan J. Smith, Stephen Conley, Abigail Corbett, and Rutger IJzermans
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1301–1324, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1301-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1301-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas. Trustable detection and quantification of methane emissions at facility level are critical for identifying the largest sources and prioritizing them for repair. We provide a systematic analysis of several sources of uncertainty in drone-based methane emission surveys based on theoretical considerations and historical data sets. We provide guidelines for industry on how to avoid or minimize errors in drone-based methane emission quantification surveys.
Alexander Pietak, Langwen Huang, Luigi Fusco, Michael Sprenger, Sebastian Schemm, and Torsten Hoefler
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-793, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-793, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geoscientific Model Development (GMD).
Short summary
Short summary
As meteorological models grow in complexity, the volume of output data increases, making compression increasingly desirable. However, no specialized methods currently exist for compressing data in the Lagrangian frame. To address this gap, we developed psit, a pipeline for the lossy compression of Lagrangian flow data. In most cases, psit achieves performance that is equivalent or superior to non specialized alternatives, with compression errors behaving similar to measurement inaccuracies.
Matthew James Rowlinson, Lucy J. Carpenter, Mat J. Evans, James D. Lee, Simone Andersen, Tomas Sherwen, Anna B. Callaghan, Roberto Sommariva, William Bloss, Siqi Hou, Leigh R. Crilley, Klaus Pfeilsticker, Benjamin Weyland, Thomas B. Ryerson, Patrick R. Veres, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Hongyu Guo, Benjamin A. Nault, Jose L. Jimenez, and Khanneh Wadinga Fomba
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-830, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-830, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
HONO is key to tropospheric chemistry. Observations show high HONO concentrations in remote air, possibly explained by nitrate aerosol photolysis. We use observational data to parameterize nitrate photolysis, evaluating simulated HONO against observations from multiple sources. We show improved agreement with observed HONO, but large overestimates in NOx and O3, beyond observational constraints. This implies a large uncertainty in the NOx budget and our understanding of atmospheric chemistry.
Rona Louise Thompson, Nalini Krishnankutty, Ignacio Pisso, Philipp Schneider, Kerstin Stebel, Motoki Sasakawa, Andreas Stohl, and Stephen Platt
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-147, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-147, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Satellite remote sensing of atmospheric mixing ratios of greenhouse gases (GHGs) can provide information on the emissions of these GHGs. This study presents a novel method to use atmospheric column mixing ratios with a Lagrangian model of atmospheric transport to estimate GHG emissions. This method can reduce model errors resulting from how an observation is represented by an atmospheric model potentially reducing the errors in the GHG emissions derived.
Alina Fiehn, Maximilian Eckl, Magdalena Pühl, Tiziana Bräuer, Klaus-Dirk Gottschaldt, Heinfried Aufmhoff, Lisa Eirenschmalz, Gregor Neumann, Felicitas Sakellariou, Daniel Sauer, Robert Baumann, Guilherme De Aguiar Ventura, Winne Nayole Cadete, Dário Luciano Zua, Manuel Xavier, Paulo Correia, and Anke Roiger
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-635, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-635, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
In September 2022, the METHANE-To-Go Africa (MTGA) campaign, part of UNEP’s IMEO Methane Science Studies, conducted the first CH₄ emissions measurements from West Africa’s offshore oil and gas sector. Using an aircraft-based mass balance method, emissions from Angolan offshore facilities were quantified. Older, low-producing facilities showed higher emissions than newer ones. High-emission events were observed, highlighting the need for targeted monitoring and mitigation efforts.
Hossein Maazallahi, Foteini Stavropoulou, Samuel Jonson Sutanto, Michael Steiner, Dominik Brunner, Mariano Mertens, Patrick Jöckel, Antoon Visschedijk, Hugo Denier van der Gon, Stijn Dellaert, Nataly Velandia Salinas, Stefan Schwietzke, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Sorin Ghemulet, Alexandru Pana, Magdalena Ardelean, Marius Corbu, Andreea Calcan, Stephen A. Conley, Mackenzie L. Smith, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1497–1511, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1497-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1497-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This article presents insights from airborne in situ measurements collected during the ROmanian Methane Emissions from Oil and gas (ROMEO) campaign supported by two models. Results reveal Romania's oil and gas methane emissions were significantly under-reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2019. A large underestimation was also found in the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) v7.0 for the study domain in the same year.
Yugo Kanaya, Roberto Sommariva, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez, Andrea Mazzeo, Theodore K. Koenig, Kaori Kawana, James E. Johnson, Aurélie Colomb, Pierre Tulet, Suzie Molloy, Ian E. Galbally, Rainer Volkamer, Anoop Mahajan, John W. Halfacre, Paul B. Shepson, Julia Schmale, Hélène Angot, Byron Blomquist, Matthew D. Shupe, Detlev Helmig, Junsu Gil, Meehye Lee, Sean C. Coburn, Ivan Ortega, Gao Chen, James Lee, Kenneth C. Aikin, David D. Parrish, John S. Holloway, Thomas B. Ryerson, Ilana B. Pollack, Eric J. Williams, Brian M. Lerner, Andrew J. Weinheimer, Teresa Campos, Frank M. Flocke, J. Ryan Spackman, Ilann Bourgeois, Jeff Peischl, Chelsea R. Thompson, Ralf M. Staebler, Amir A. Aliabadi, Wanmin Gong, Roeland Van Malderen, Anne M. Thompson, Ryan M. Stauffer, Debra E. Kollonige, Juan Carlos Gómez Martin, Masatomo Fujiwara, Katie Read, Matthew Rowlinson, Keiichi Sato, Junichi Kurokawa, Yoko Iwamoto, Fumikazu Taketani, Hisahiro Takashima, Monica Navarro Comas, Marios Panagi, and Martin G. Schultz
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-566, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-566, 2025
Revised manuscript accepted for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
The first comprehensive dataset of tropospheric ozone over oceans/polar regions is presented, including 77 ship/buoy and 48 aircraft campaign observations (1977–2022, 0–5000 m altitude), supplemented by ozonesonde and surface data. Air masses isolated from land for 72+ hours are systematically selected as essentially oceanic. Among the 11 global regions, they show daytime decreases of 10–16% in the tropics, while near-zero depletions are rare, unlike in the Arctic, implying different mechanisms.
Masahito Ueyama, Taku Umezawa, Yukio Terao, Mark Lunt, and James Lawrence France
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3926, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3926, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Methane (CH4) emissions were measured in Megacity Osaka, Japan, using mobile and eddy covariance methods. The CH4 emissions were much higher than those reported in local inventories, with natural gas contributing up to 74 % of the emissions. Several CH4 sources not accounted for in current inventories were identified. These results emphasize the need for more comprehensive emissions tracking in urban areas to enhance climate change mitigation efforts.
James Brean, David C. S. Beddows, Eija Asmi, Aki Virkkula, Lauriane L. J. Quéléver, Mikko Sipilä, Floortje Van Den Heuvel, Thomas Lachlan-Cope, Anna Jones, Markus Frey, Angelo Lupi, Jiyeon Park, Young Jun Yoon, Rolf Weller, Giselle L. Marincovich, Gabriela C. Mulena, Roy M. Harrison, and Manuel Dall'Osto
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1145–1162, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1145-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1145-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Our results emphasise how understanding the geographical variation in surface types across the Antarctic is key to understanding secondary aerosol sources.
Alex T. Archibald, Bablu Sinha, Maria R. Russo, Emily Matthews, Freya A. Squires, N. Luke Abraham, Stephane J.-B. Bauguitte, Thomas J. Bannan, Thomas G. Bell, David Berry, Lucy J. Carpenter, Hugh Coe, Andrew Coward, Peter Edwards, Daniel Feltham, Dwayne Heard, Jim Hopkins, James Keeble, Elizabeth C. Kent, Brian A. King, Isobel R. Lawrence, James Lee, Claire R. Macintosh, Alex Megann, Bengamin I. Moat, Katie Read, Chris Reed, Malcolm J. Roberts, Reinhard Schiemann, David Schroeder, Timothy J. Smyth, Loren Temple, Navaneeth Thamban, Lisa Whalley, Simon Williams, Huihui Wu, and Mingxi Yang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 135–164, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-135-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-135-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Here, we present an overview of the data generated as part of the North Atlantic Climate System Integrated Study (ACSIS) programme that are available through dedicated repositories at the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA; www.ceda.ac.uk) and the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC; bodc.ac.uk). The datasets described here cover the North Atlantic Ocean, the atmosphere above (it including its composition), and Arctic sea ice.
Dafina Kikaj, Edward Chung, Alan D. Griffiths, Scott D. Chambers, Grant Forster, Angelina Wenger, Penelope Pickers, Chris Rennick, Simon O'Doherty, Joseph Pitt, Kieran Stanley, Dickon Young, Leigh S. Fleming, Karina Adcock, Emmal Safi, and Tim Arnold
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 151–175, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-151-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-151-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We present a protocol to improve confidence in atmospheric radon measurements, enabling site comparisons and integration with greenhouse gas data. As a natural tracer, radon provides an independent check of transport model performance. This standardized method enhances radon’s use as a metric for model evaluation. Beyond UK observatories, it can support broader networks like ICOS and WMO/GAW, advancing global atmospheric research.
Félix Langot, Cyril Crevoisier, Thomas Lauvaux, Charbel Abdallah, Jérôme Pernin, Xin Lin, Marielle Saunois, Axel Guedj, Thomas Ponthieu, Anke Roiger, Klaus-Dirk Gottschaldt, and Alina Fiehn
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3559, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3559, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Our study compares outputs from meteorological and atmospheric composition models to data from the MAGIC2021 campaign that took place in Sweden. Our results highlight performance differences among models, revealing strengths and weaknesses of different modelling techniques. We also found that wetland emission inventories overestimated emissions in regional simulations. This work helps refining methane emission predictions, essential for understanding climate change.
Lucie Bakels, Daria Tatsii, Anne Tipka, Rona Thompson, Marina Dütsch, Michael Blaschek, Petra Seibert, Katharina Baier, Silvia Bucci, Massimo Cassiani, Sabine Eckhardt, Christine Groot Zwaaftink, Stephan Henne, Pirmin Kaufmann, Vincent Lechner, Christian Maurer, Marie D. Mulder, Ignacio Pisso, Andreas Plach, Rakesh Subramanian, Martin Vojta, and Andreas Stohl
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 7595–7627, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7595-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-7595-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Computer models are essential for improving our understanding of how gases and particles move in the atmosphere. We present an update of the atmospheric transport model FLEXPART. FLEXPART 11 is more accurate due to a reduced number of interpolations and a new scheme for wet deposition. It can simulate non-spherical aerosols and includes linear chemical reactions. It is parallelised using OpenMP and includes new user options. A new user manual details how to use FLEXPART 11.
Theresa Harlass, Rebecca Dischl, Stefan Kaufmann, Raphael Märkl, Daniel Sauer, Monika Scheibe, Paul Stock, Tiziana Bräuer, Andreas Dörnbrack, Anke Roiger, Hans Schlager, Ulrich Schumann, Magdalena Pühl, Tobias Schripp, Tobias Grein, Linda Bondorf, Charles Renard, Maxime Gauthier, Mark Johnson, Darren Luff, Paul Madden, Peter Swann, Denise Ahrens, Reetu Sallinen, and Christiane Voigt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11807–11822, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11807-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11807-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Emissions from aircraft have a direct impact on our climate. Here, we present airborne and ground-based measurement data of nitrogen oxides that were collected in the exhaust of an Airbus aircraft. We study the impact of burning fossil and sustainable aviation fuel on nitrogen oxide emissions at different engine settings related to combustor temperature, pressure and fuel flow. Further, we compare observations with engine emission models.
Beth S. Nelson, Zhenze Liu, Freya A. Squires, Marvin Shaw, James R. Hopkins, Jacqueline F. Hamilton, Andrew R. Rickard, Alastair C. Lewis, Zongbo Shi, and James D. Lee
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9031–9044, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9031-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9031-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The impact of combined air quality and carbon neutrality policies on O3 formation in Beijing was investigated. Emissions inventory data were used to estimate future pollutant mixing ratios relative to ground-level observations. O3 production was found to be most sensitive to changes in alkenes, but large reductions in less reactive compounds led to larger reductions in future O3 production. This study highlights the importance of understanding the emissions of organic pollutants.
Vy Dinh Ngoc Thuy, Jean-Luc Jaffrezo, Ian Hough, Pamela A. Dominutti, Guillaume Salque Moreton, Grégory Gille, Florie Francony, Arabelle Patron-Anquez, Olivier Favez, and Gaëlle Uzu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 7261–7282, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7261-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7261-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The capacity of particulate matter (PM) to generate reactive oxygen species in vivo is represented by oxidative potential (OP). This study focuses on finding the appropriate model to evaluate the oxidative character of PM sources in six sites using the PM sources and OP. Eight regression techniques are introduced to assess the OP of PM. The study highlights the importance of selecting a model according to the input data characteristics and establishes some recommendations for the procedure.
Marco Paglione, David C. S. Beddows, Anna Jones, Thomas Lachlan-Cope, Matteo Rinaldi, Stefano Decesari, Francesco Manarini, Mara Russo, Karam Mansour, Roy M. Harrison, Andrea Mazzanti, Emilio Tagliavini, and Manuel Dall'Osto
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6305–6322, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6305-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6305-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Applying factor analysis techniques to H-NMR spectra, we present the organic aerosol (OA) source apportionment of PM1 samples collected in parallel at two Antarctic stations, namely Signy and Halley, allowing investigation of aerosol–climate interactions in an unperturbed atmosphere. Our results show remarkable differences between pelagic (open-ocean) and sympagic (sea-ice-influenced) air masses and indicate that various sources and processes are controlling Antarctic aerosols.
Lucas Pailler, Laurent Deguillaume, Hélène Lavanant, Isabelle Schmitz, Marie Hubert, Edith Nicol, Mickaël Ribeiro, Jean-Marc Pichon, Mickaël Vaïtilingom, Pamela Dominutti, Frédéric Burnet, Pierre Tulet, Maud Leriche, and Angelica Bianco
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5567–5584, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5567-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5567-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The composition of dissolved organic matter of cloud water has been investigated through non-targeted high-resolution mass spectrometry on only a few samples collected in the Northern Hemisphere. In this work, the chemical composition of samples collected at Réunion Island (SH) is investigated and compared to samples collected at Puy de Dôme (NH). Sampling, analysis and data treatment with the same methodology produced a unique dataset for investigating the molecular composition of clouds.
Maud Leriche, Pierre Tulet, Laurent Deguillaume, Frédéric Burnet, Aurélie Colomb, Agnès Borbon, Corinne Jambert, Valentin Duflot, Stéphan Houdier, Jean-Luc Jaffrezo, Mickaël Vaïtilingom, Pamela Dominutti, Manon Rocco, Camille Mouchel-Vallon, Samira El Gdachi, Maxence Brissy, Maroua Fathalli, Nicolas Maury, Bert Verreyken, Crist Amelynck, Niels Schoon, Valérie Gros, Jean-Marc Pichon, Mickael Ribeiro, Eric Pique, Emmanuel Leclerc, Thierry Bourrianne, Axel Roy, Eric Moulin, Joël Barrie, Jean-Marc Metzger, Guillaume Péris, Christian Guadagno, Chatrapatty Bhugwant, Jean-Mathieu Tibere, Arnaud Tournigand, Evelyn Freney, Karine Sellegri, Anne-Marie Delort, Pierre Amato, Muriel Joly, Jean-Luc Baray, Pascal Renard, Angelica Bianco, Anne Réchou, and Guillaume Payen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 4129–4155, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4129-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-4129-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol particles in the atmosphere play a key role in climate change and air pollution. A large number of aerosol particles are formed from the oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs and secondary organic aerosols – SOA). An important field campaign was organized on Réunion in March–April 2019 to understand the formation of SOA in a tropical atmosphere mostly influenced by VOCs emitted by forest and in the presence of clouds. This work synthesizes the results of this campaign.
Emily Dowd, Alistair J. Manning, Bryn Orth-Lashley, Marianne Girard, James France, Rebecca E. Fisher, Dave Lowry, Mathias Lanoisellé, Joseph R. Pitt, Kieran M. Stanley, Simon O'Doherty, Dickon Young, Glen Thistlethwaite, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Emanuel Gloor, and Chris Wilson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1599–1615, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1599-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1599-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We provide the first validation of the satellite-derived emission estimates using surface-based mobile greenhouse gas surveys of an active gas leak detected near Cheltenham, UK. GHGSat’s emission estimates broadly agree with the surface-based mobile survey and steps were taken to fix the leak, highlighting the importance of satellite data in identifying emissions and helping to reduce our human impact on climate change.
Robert Hanfland, Dominik Brunner, Christiane Voigt, Alina Fiehn, Anke Roiger, and Margit Pattantyús-Ábrahám
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2511–2534, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2511-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2511-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
To show that the three-dimensional dispersion of plumes simulated by the Atmospheric Radionuclide Transport Model within the planetary boundary layer agrees with real plumes, we identify the most important input parameters and analyse the turbulence properties of five different turbulence models in very unstable stratification conditions using their deviation from the well-mixed state. Simulations show that one model agrees slightly better in unstable stratification conditions.
Magdalena Pühl, Anke Roiger, Alina Fiehn, Alan M. Gorchov Negron, Eric A. Kort, Stefan Schwietzke, Ignacio Pisso, Amy Foulds, James Lee, James L. France, Anna E. Jones, Dave Lowry, Rebecca E. Fisher, Langwen Huang, Jacob Shaw, Prudence Bateson, Stephen Andrews, Stuart Young, Pamela Dominutti, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Alexandra Weiss, and Grant Allen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1005–1024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1005-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1005-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In April–May 2019 we carried out an airborne field campaign in the southern North Sea with the aim of studying methane emissions of offshore gas installations. We determined methane emissions from elevated methane measured downstream of the sampled installations. We compare our measured methane emissions with estimated methane emissions from national and global annual inventories. As a result, we find inconsistencies of inventories and large discrepancies between measurements and inventories.
Alina Fiehn, Maximilian Eckl, Julian Kostinek, Michał Gałkowski, Christoph Gerbig, Michael Rothe, Thomas Röckmann, Malika Menoud, Hossein Maazallahi, Martina Schmidt, Piotr Korbeń, Jarosław Neçki, Mila Stanisavljević, Justyna Swolkień, Andreas Fix, and Anke Roiger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15749–15765, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15749-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15749-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
During the CoMet mission in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) ground-based and airborne air samples were taken and analyzed for the isotopic composition of CH4 to derive the mean signature of the USCB and source signatures of individual coal mines. Using δ2H signatures, the biogenic emissions from the USCB account for 15 %–50 % of total emissions, which is underestimated in common emission inventories. This demonstrates the importance of δ2H-CH4 observations for methane source apportionment.
Xuewei Hou, Oliver Wild, Bin Zhu, and James Lee
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15395–15411, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15395-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15395-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In response to the climate crisis, many countries have committed to net zero in a certain future year. The impacts of net-zero scenarios on tropospheric O3 are less well studied and remain unclear. In this study, we quantified the changes of tropospheric O3 budgets, spatiotemporal distributions of future surface O3 in east Asia and regional O3 source contributions for 2060 under a net-zero scenario using the NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM) and online O3-tagging methods.
Robert Woodward-Massey, Roberto Sommariva, Lisa K. Whalley, Danny R. Cryer, Trevor Ingham, William J. Bloss, Stephen M. Ball, Sam Cox, James D. Lee, Chris P. Reed, Leigh R. Crilley, Louisa J. Kramer, Brian J. Bandy, Grant L. Forster, Claire E. Reeves, Paul S. Monks, and Dwayne E. Heard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14393–14424, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14393-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14393-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Measurements of OH, HO2 and RO2 radicals and also OH reactivity were made at a UK coastal site and compared to calculations from a constrained box model utilising the Master Chemical Mechanism. The model agreement displayed a strong dependence on the NO concentration. An experimental budget analysis for OH, HO2, RO2 and total ROx demonstrated significant imbalances between HO2 and RO2 production rates. Ozone production rates were calculated from measured radicals and compared to modelled values.
Máté Vörösmarty, Gaëlle Uzu, Jean-Luc Jaffrezo, Pamela Dominutti, Zsófia Kertész, Enikő Papp, and Imre Salma
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14255–14269, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14255-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14255-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Poor air quality caused by high concentrations of particulate matter is one of the most severe public health concerns for humans worldwide. One of the most important biological mechanisms inducing adverse health effects is the oxidant–antioxidant imbalance. We showed that the oxidative stress changed substantially and in a complex manner with location and season. Biomass burning exhibited the dominant influence, while motor vehicles played an important role in the non-heating period.
Hossein Maazallahi, Antonio Delre, Charlotte Scheutz, Anders M. Fredenslund, Stefan Schwietzke, Hugo Denier van der Gon, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5051–5073, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5051-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5051-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Measurement methods are increasingly deployed to verify reported methane emissions of gas leaks. This study describes unique advantages and limitations of three methods. Two methods are rapidly deployed, but uncertainties and biases exist for some leak locations. In contrast, the suction method could accurately determine leak rates in principle. However, this method, which provides data for the German emission inventory, creates an overall low bias in our study due to non-random site selection.
Foteini Stavropoulou, Katarina Vinković, Bert Kers, Marcel de Vries, Steven van Heuven, Piotr Korbeń, Martina Schmidt, Julia Wietzel, Pawel Jagoda, Jaroslav M. Necki, Jakub Bartyzel, Hossein Maazallahi, Malika Menoud, Carina van der Veen, Sylvia Walter, Béla Tuzson, Jonas Ravelid, Randulph Paulo Morales, Lukas Emmenegger, Dominik Brunner, Michael Steiner, Arjan Hensen, Ilona Velzeboer, Pim van den Bulk, Hugo Denier van der Gon, Antonio Delre, Maklawe Essonanawe Edjabou, Charlotte Scheutz, Marius Corbu, Sebastian Iancu, Denisa Moaca, Alin Scarlat, Alexandru Tudor, Ioana Vizireanu, Andreea Calcan, Magdalena Ardelean, Sorin Ghemulet, Alexandru Pana, Aurel Constantinescu, Lucian Cusa, Alexandru Nica, Calin Baciu, Cristian Pop, Andrei Radovici, Alexandru Mereuta, Horatiu Stefanie, Alexandru Dandocsi, Bas Hermans, Stefan Schwietzke, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Huilin Chen, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10399–10412, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10399-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10399-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we quantify CH4 emissions from onshore oil production sites in Romania at source and facility level using a combination of ground- and drone-based measurement techniques. We show that the total CH4 emissions in our studied areas are much higher than the emissions reported to UNFCCC, and up to three-quarters of the detected emissions are related to operational venting. Our results suggest that oil and gas production infrastructure in Romania holds a massive mitigation potential.
Sara M. Defratyka, James L. France, Rebecca E. Fisher, Dave Lowry, Julianne M. Fernandez, Semra Bakkaloglu, Camille Yver-Kwok, Jean-Daniel Paris, Philippe Bousquet, Tim Arnold, Chris Rennick, Jon Helmore, Nigel Yarrow, and Euan G. Nisbet
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1490, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1490, 2023
Preprint archived
Short summary
Short summary
We are focused on verification of δ13CH4 measurements in near-source conditions and we have provided an insight into the impact of chosen calculation methods for determined isotopic signatures. Our study offers a step forward for establishing an unified, robust, and reliable analytical technique to determine δ13CH4 of methane sources. Our recommended analytical approach reduces biases and uncertainties coming from measurement conditions, data clustering and various available fitting methods.
Alison L. Redington, Alistair J. Manning, Stephan Henne, Francesco Graziosi, Luke M. Western, Jgor Arduini, Anita L. Ganesan, Christina M. Harth, Michela Maione, Jens Mühle, Simon O'Doherty, Joseph Pitt, Stefan Reimann, Matthew Rigby, Peter K. Salameh, Peter G. Simmonds, T. Gerard Spain, Kieran Stanley, Martin K. Vollmer, Ray F. Weiss, and Dickon Young
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7383–7398, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7383-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7383-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) were used in Europe pre-1990, damaging the stratospheric ozone layer. Legislation has controlled production and use, and global emissions have decreased sharply. The global rate of decline in CFC-11 recently slowed and was partly attributed to illegal emission in eastern China. This study concludes that emissions of CFC-11 in western Europe have not contributed to the unexplained part of the global increase in CFC-11 observed in the last decade.
Andreas Forstmaier, Jia Chen, Florian Dietrich, Juan Bettinelli, Hossein Maazallahi, Carsten Schneider, Dominik Winkler, Xinxu Zhao, Taylor Jones, Carina van der Veen, Norman Wildmann, Moritz Makowski, Aydin Uzun, Friedrich Klappenbach, Hugo Denier van der Gon, Stefan Schwietzke, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 6897–6922, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6897-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6897-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Large cities emit greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming. In this study, we measured the release of one important green house gas, methane, in Hamburg. Multiple sources that contribute to methane emissions were located and quantified. Methane sources were found to be mainly caused by human activity (e.g., by release from oil and gas refineries). Moreover, potential natural sources have been located, such as the Elbe River and lakes.
Joanna E. Dyson, Lisa K. Whalley, Eloise J. Slater, Robert Woodward-Massey, Chunxiang Ye, James D. Lee, Freya Squires, James R. Hopkins, Rachel E. Dunmore, Marvin Shaw, Jacqueline F. Hamilton, Alastair C. Lewis, Stephen D. Worrall, Asan Bacak, Archit Mehra, Thomas J. Bannan, Hugh Coe, Carl J. Percival, Bin Ouyang, C. Nicholas Hewitt, Roderic L. Jones, Leigh R. Crilley, Louisa J. Kramer, W. Joe F. Acton, William J. Bloss, Supattarachai Saksakulkrai, Jingsha Xu, Zongbo Shi, Roy M. Harrison, Simone Kotthaus, Sue Grimmond, Yele Sun, Weiqi Xu, Siyao Yue, Lianfang Wei, Pingqing Fu, Xinming Wang, Stephen R. Arnold, and Dwayne E. Heard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5679–5697, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5679-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5679-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The hydroxyl (OH) and closely coupled hydroperoxyl (HO2) radicals are vital for their role in the removal of atmospheric pollutants. In less polluted regions, atmospheric models over-predict HO2 concentrations. In this modelling study, the impact of heterogeneous uptake of HO2 onto aerosol surfaces on radical concentrations and the ozone production regime in Beijing in the summertime is investigated, and the implications for emissions policies across China are considered.
Dominik Brunner, Gerrit Kuhlmann, Stephan Henne, Erik Koene, Bastian Kern, Sebastian Wolff, Christiane Voigt, Patrick Jöckel, Christoph Kiemle, Anke Roiger, Alina Fiehn, Sven Krautwurst, Konstantin Gerilowski, Heinrich Bovensmann, Jakob Borchardt, Michal Galkowski, Christoph Gerbig, Julia Marshall, Andrzej Klonecki, Pascal Prunet, Robert Hanfland, Margit Pattantyús-Ábrahám, Andrzej Wyszogrodzki, and Andreas Fix
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2699–2728, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2699-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2699-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluated six atmospheric transport models for their capability to simulate the CO2 plumes from two of the largest power plants in Europe by comparing the models against aircraft observations collected during the CoMet (Carbon Dioxide and Methane Mission) campaign in 2018. The study analyzed how realistically such plumes can be simulated at different model resolutions and how well the planned European satellite mission CO2M will be able to quantify emissions from power plants.
Samuel J. Cliff, Will Drysdale, James D. Lee, Carole Helfter, Eiko Nemitz, Stefan Metzger, and Janet F. Barlow
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2315–2330, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2315-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2315-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) to the atmosphere are an ongoing air quality issue. This study directly measures emissions of NOx and carbon dioxide from a tall tower in central London during the coronavirus pandemic. It was found that transport NOx emissions had reduced by >73 % since 2017 as a result of air quality policy and reduced congestion during coronavirus restrictions. During this period, central London was thought to be dominated by point-source heat and power generation emissions.
Jacob T. Shaw, Amy Foulds, Shona Wilde, Patrick Barker, Freya A. Squires, James Lee, Ruth Purvis, Ralph Burton, Ioana Colfescu, Stephen Mobbs, Samuel Cliff, Stéphane J.-B. Bauguitte, Stuart Young, Stefan Schwietzke, and Grant Allen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1491–1509, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1491-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1491-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Flaring is used by the oil and gas sector to dispose of unwanted natural gas or for safety. However, few studies have assessed the efficiency with which the gas is combusted. We sampled flaring emissions from offshore facilities in the North Sea. Average measured flaring efficiencies were ~ 98 % but with a skewed distribution, including many flares of lower efficiency. NOx and ethane emissions were also measured. Inefficient flaring practices could be a target for mitigating carbon emissions.
Rona L. Thompson and Ignacio Pisso
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 235–246, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-235-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-235-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric networks are used for monitoring air quality and greenhouse gases and can provide essential information about the sources and sinks. The design of the network, specifically where to place the observations, is a critical question in order to maximize the information provided while minimizing the cost. Here, a novel method of designing atmospheric networks is presented with two examples, one on monitoring sources of methane and the second on monitoring fossil fuel emissions of CO2.
Daniel J. Bryant, Beth S. Nelson, Stefan J. Swift, Sri Hapsari Budisulistiorini, Will S. Drysdale, Adam R. Vaughan, Mike J. Newland, James R. Hopkins, James M. Cash, Ben Langford, Eiko Nemitz, W. Joe F. Acton, C. Nicholas Hewitt, Tuhin Mandal, Bhola R. Gurjar, Shivani, Ranu Gadi, James D. Lee, Andrew R. Rickard, and Jacqueline F. Hamilton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 61–83, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-61-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-61-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper investigates the sources of isoprene and monoterpene compounds and their particulate-phase oxidation products in Delhi, India. This was done to improve our understanding of the sources, concentrations, and fate of volatile emissions in megacities. By studying the chemical composition of offline filter samples, we report that a significant share of the oxidised organic aerosol in Delhi is from isoprene and monoterpenes. This has implications for human health and policy development.
Simone T. Andersen, Beth S. Nelson, Katie A. Read, Shalini Punjabi, Luis Neves, Matthew J. Rowlinson, James Hopkins, Tomás Sherwen, Lisa K. Whalley, James D. Lee, and Lucy J. Carpenter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15747–15765, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15747-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15747-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The cycling of NO and NO2 is important to understand to be able to predict O3 concentrations in the atmosphere. We have used long-term measurements from the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory together with model outputs to investigate the cycling of nitrogen oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in very clean marine air. This study shows that we understand the processes occurring in very clean air, but with small amounts of pollution in the air, known chemistry cannot explain what is observed.
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
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15527–15558, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15527-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15527-2022, 2022
Short summary
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.
Sourish Basu, Xin Lan, Edward Dlugokencky, Sylvia Michel, Stefan Schwietzke, John B. Miller, Lori Bruhwiler, Youmi Oh, Pieter P. Tans, Francesco Apadula, Luciana V. Gatti, Armin Jordan, Jaroslaw Necki, Motoki Sasakawa, Shinji Morimoto, Tatiana Di Iorio, Haeyoung Lee, Jgor Arduini, and Giovanni Manca
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15351–15377, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15351-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15351-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric methane (CH4) has been growing steadily since 2007 for reasons that are not well understood. Here we determine sources of methane using a technique informed by atmospheric measurements of CH4 and its isotopologue 13CH4. Measurements of 13CH4 provide for better separation of microbial, fossil, and fire sources of methane than CH4 measurements alone. Compared to previous assessments such as the Global Carbon Project, we find a larger microbial contribution to the post-2007 increase.
Alfred W. Mayhew, Ben H. Lee, Joel A. Thornton, Thomas J. Bannan, James Brean, James R. Hopkins, James D. Lee, Beth S. Nelson, Carl Percival, Andrew R. Rickard, Marvin D. Shaw, Peter M. Edwards, and Jaqueline F. Hamilton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14783–14798, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14783-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14783-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Isoprene nitrates are chemical species commonly found in the atmosphere that are important for their impacts on air quality and climate. This paper compares 3 different representations of the chemistry of isoprene nitrates in computational models highlighting cases where the choice of chemistry included has significant impacts on the concentration and composition of the modelled nitrates. Calibration of mass spectrometers is also shown to be an important factor when analysing isoprene nitrates.
Paul A. Barrett, Steven J. Abel, Hugh Coe, Ian Crawford, Amie Dobracki, James Haywood, Steve Howell, Anthony Jones, Justin Langridge, Greg M. McFarquhar, Graeme J. Nott, Hannah Price, Jens Redemann, Yohei Shinozuka, Kate Szpek, Jonathan W. Taylor, Robert Wood, Huihui Wu, Paquita Zuidema, Stéphane Bauguitte, Ryan Bennett, Keith Bower, Hong Chen, Sabrina Cochrane, Michael Cotterell, Nicholas Davies, David Delene, Connor Flynn, Andrew Freedman, Steffen Freitag, Siddhant Gupta, David Noone, Timothy B. Onasch, James Podolske, Michael R. Poellot, Sebastian Schmidt, Stephen Springston, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Jamie Trembath, Alan Vance, Maria A. Zawadowicz, and Jianhao Zhang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6329–6371, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6329-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6329-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
To better understand weather and climate, it is vital to go into the field and collect observations. Often measurements take place in isolation, but here we compared data from two aircraft and one ground-based site. This was done in order to understand how well measurements made on one platform compared to those made on another. Whilst this is easy to do in a controlled laboratory setting, it is more challenging in the real world, and so these comparisons are as valuable as they are rare.
Broghan M. Erland, Cristen Adams, Andrea Darlington, Mackenzie L. Smith, Andrew K. Thorpe, Gregory R. Wentworth, Steve Conley, John Liggio, Shao-Meng Li, Charles E. Miller, and John A. Gamon
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5841–5859, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5841-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5841-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Accurately estimating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is essential to reaching net-zero goals to combat the climate crisis. Airborne box-flights are ideal for assessing regional GHG emissions, as they can attain small error. We compare two box-flight algorithms and found they produce similar results, but daily variability must be considered when deriving emissions inventories. Increasing the consistency and agreement between airborne methods moves us closer to achieving more accurate estimates.
Malika Menoud, Carina van der Veen, Dave Lowry, Julianne M. Fernandez, Semra Bakkaloglu, James L. France, Rebecca E. Fisher, Hossein Maazallahi, Mila Stanisavljević, Jarosław Nęcki, Katarina Vinkovic, Patryk Łakomiec, Janne Rinne, Piotr Korbeń, Martina Schmidt, Sara Defratyka, Camille Yver-Kwok, Truls Andersen, Huilin Chen, and Thomas Röckmann
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4365–4386, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4365-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4365-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Emission sources of methane (CH4) can be distinguished with measurements of CH4 stable isotopes. We present new measurements of isotope signatures of various CH4 sources in Europe, mainly anthropogenic, sampled from 2017 to 2020. The present database also contains the most recent update of the global signature dataset from the literature. The dataset improves CH4 source attribution and the understanding of the global CH4 budget.
Will S. Drysdale, Adam R. Vaughan, Freya A. Squires, Sam J. Cliff, Stefan Metzger, David Durden, Natchaya Pingintha-Durden, Carole Helfter, Eiko Nemitz, C. Sue B. Grimmond, Janet Barlow, Sean Beevers, Gregor Stewart, David Dajnak, Ruth M. Purvis, and James D. Lee
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9413–9433, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9413-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9413-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Measurements of NOx emissions are important for a good understanding of air quality. While there are many direct measurements of NOx concentration, there are very few measurements of its emission. Measurements of emissions provide constraints on emissions inventories and air quality models. This article presents measurements of NOx emission from the BT Tower in central London in 2017 and compares them with inventories, finding that they underestimate by a factor of ∼1.48.
Marios Panagi, Roberto Sommariva, Zoë L. Fleming, Paul S. Monks, Gongda Lu, Eloise A. Marais, James R. Hopkins, Alastair C. Lewis, Qiang Zhang, James D. Lee, Freya A. Squires, Lisa K. Whalley, Eloise J. Slater, Dwayne E. Heard, Robert Woodward-Massey, Chunxiang Ye, and Joshua D. Vande Hey
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-379, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-379, 2022
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
A dispersion model and a box model were combined to investigate the evolution of VOCs in Beijing once they are emitted from anthropogenic sources. It was determined that during the winter time the VOC concentrations in Beijing are driven predominantly by sources within Beijing and by a combination of transport and chemistry during the summer. Furthermore, the results in the paper highlight the need for a season specific policy.
Yue Jia, Birgit Quack, Robert D. Kinley, Ignacio Pisso, and Susann Tegtmeier
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7631–7646, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7631-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7631-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we assessed the potential risks of bromoform released from Asparagopsis farming near Australia for the stratospheric ozone layer by analyzing different cultivation scenarios. We conclude that the intended operation of Asparagopsis seaweed cultivation farms with an annual yield to meet the needs of 50 % of feedlots and cattle in either open-ocean or terrestrial cultures in Australia will not impact the ozone layer under normal operating conditions.
Colm Sweeney, Abhishek Chatterjee, Sonja Wolter, Kathryn McKain, Robert Bogue, Stephen Conley, Tim Newberger, Lei Hu, Lesley Ott, Benjamin Poulter, Luke Schiferl, Brad Weir, Zhen Zhang, and Charles E. Miller
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6347–6364, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6347-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6347-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The Arctic Carbon Atmospheric Profiles (Arctic-CAP) project demonstrates the utility of aircraft profiles for independent evaluation of model-derived emissions and uptake of atmospheric CO2, CH4, and CO from land and ocean. Comparison with the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) modeling system suggests that fluxes of CO2 are very consistent with observations, while those of CH4 have some regional and seasonal biases, and that CO comparison is complicated by transport errors.
Hannah Walker, Daniel Stone, Trevor Ingham, Sina Hackenberg, Danny Cryer, Shalini Punjabi, Katie Read, James Lee, Lisa Whalley, Dominick V. Spracklen, Lucy J. Carpenter, Steve R. Arnold, and Dwayne E. Heard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5535–5557, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5535-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5535-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Glyoxal is a ubiquitous reactive organic compound in the atmosphere, which may form organic aerosol and impact the atmosphere's oxidising capacity. There are limited measurements of glyoxal's abundance in the remote marine atmosphere. We made new measurements of glyoxal using a highly sensitive technique over two 4-week periods in the tropical Atlantic atmosphere. We show that daytime measurements are mostly consistent with our chemical understanding but a potential missing source at night.
Robert Woodward-Massey, Roberto Sommariva, Lisa K. Whalley, Danny R. Cryer, Trevor Ingham, William J1 Bloss, Sam Cox, James D. Lee, Chris P. Reed, Leigh R. Crilley, Louisa J. Kramer, Brian J. Bandy, Grant L. Forster, Claire E. Reeves, Paul S. Monks, and Dwayne E. Heard
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-207, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-207, 2022
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
We measured radicals (OH, HO2, RO2) and OH reactivity at a UK coastal site and compared our observations to the predictions of an MCMv3.3.1 box model. We find variable agreement between measured and modelled radical concentrations and OH reactivity, where the levels of agreement for individual species display strong dependences on NO concentrations. The most substantial disagreement is found for RO2 at high NO (> 1 ppbv), when RO2 levels are underpredicted by a factor of ~10–30.
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
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3911–3929, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3911-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3911-2022, 2022
Short summary
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.
Stephen M. Platt, Øystein Hov, Torunn Berg, Knut Breivik, Sabine Eckhardt, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Nikolaos Evangeliou, Markus Fiebig, Rebecca Fisher, Georg Hansen, Hans-Christen Hansson, Jost Heintzenberg, Ove Hermansen, Dominic Heslin-Rees, Kim Holmén, Stephen Hudson, Roland Kallenborn, Radovan Krejci, Terje Krognes, Steinar Larssen, David Lowry, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Chris Lunder, Euan Nisbet, Pernilla B. Nizzetto, Ki-Tae Park, Christina A. Pedersen, Katrine Aspmo Pfaffhuber, Thomas Röckmann, Norbert Schmidbauer, Sverre Solberg, Andreas Stohl, Johan Ström, Tove Svendby, Peter Tunved, Kjersti Tørnkvist, Carina van der Veen, Stergios Vratolis, Young Jun Yoon, Karl Espen Yttri, Paul Zieger, Wenche Aas, and Kjetil Tørseth
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3321–3369, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3321-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3321-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Here we detail the history of the Zeppelin Observatory, a unique global background site and one of only a few in the high Arctic. We present long-term time series of up to 30 years of atmospheric components and atmospheric transport phenomena. Many of these time series are important to our understanding of Arctic and global atmospheric composition change. Finally, we discuss the future of the Zeppelin Observatory and emerging areas of future research on the Arctic atmosphere.
Andrew O. Langford, Christoph J. Senff, Raul J. Alvarez II, Ken C. Aikin, Sunil Baidar, Timothy A. Bonin, W. Alan Brewer, Jerome Brioude, Steven S. Brown, Joel D. Burley, Dani J. Caputi, Stephen A. Conley, Patrick D. Cullis, Zachary C. J. Decker, Stéphanie Evan, Guillaume Kirgis, Meiyun Lin, Mariusz Pagowski, Jeff Peischl, Irina Petropavlovskikh, R. Bradley Pierce, Thomas B. Ryerson, Scott P. Sandberg, Chance W. Sterling, Ann M. Weickmann, and Li Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1707–1737, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1707-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1707-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The Fires, Asian, and Stratospheric Transport–Las Vegas Ozone Study (FAST-LVOS) combined lidar, aircraft, and in situ measurements with global models to investigate the contributions of stratospheric intrusions, regional and Asian pollution, and wildfires to background ozone in the southwestern US during May and June 2017 and demonstrated that these processes contributed to background ozone levels that exceeded 70 % of the US National Ambient Air Quality Standard during the 6-week campaign.
Pamela A. Dominutti, Pascal Renard, Mickaël Vaïtilingom, Angelica Bianco, Jean-Luc Baray, Agnès Borbon, Thierry Bourianne, Frédéric Burnet, Aurélie Colomb, Anne-Marie Delort, Valentin Duflot, Stephan Houdier, Jean-Luc Jaffrezo, Muriel Joly, Martin Leremboure, Jean-Marc Metzger, Jean-Marc Pichon, Mickaël Ribeiro, Manon Rocco, Pierre Tulet, Anthony Vella, Maud Leriche, and Laurent Deguillaume
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 505–533, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-505-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-505-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present here the results obtained during an intensive field campaign conducted in March to April 2019 in Reunion. Our study integrates a comprehensive chemical and microphysical characterization of cloud water. Our investigations reveal that air mass history and cloud microphysical properties do not fully explain the variability observed in their chemical composition. This highlights the complexity of emission sources, multiphasic exchanges, and transformations in clouds.
Leigh R. Crilley, Louisa J. Kramer, Francis D. Pope, Chris Reed, James D. Lee, Lucy J. Carpenter, Lloyd D. J. Hollis, Stephen M. Ball, and William J. Bloss
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18213–18225, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18213-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18213-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Nitrous acid (HONO) is a key source of atmospheric oxidants. We evaluate if the ocean surface is a source of HONO for the marine boundary layer, using measurements from two contrasting coastal locations. We observed no evidence for a night-time ocean surface source, in contrast to previous work. This points to significant geographical variation in the predominant HONO formation mechanisms in marine environments, reflecting possible variability in the sea-surface microlayer composition.
Sven Krautwurst, Konstantin Gerilowski, Jakob Borchardt, Norman Wildmann, Michał Gałkowski, Justyna Swolkień, Julia Marshall, Alina Fiehn, Anke Roiger, Thomas Ruhtz, Christoph Gerbig, Jaroslaw Necki, John P. Burrows, Andreas Fix, and Heinrich Bovensmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 17345–17371, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17345-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-17345-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Quantification of anthropogenic CH4 emissions remains challenging, but it is essential for near-term climate mitigation strategies. We use airborne remote sensing observations to assess bottom-up estimates of coal mining emissions from one of Europe's largest CH4 emission hot spots located in Poland. The analysis reveals that emissions from small groups of shafts can be disentangled, but caution is advised when comparing observations to commonly reported annual emissions.
Mark F. Lunt, Alistair J. Manning, Grant Allen, Tim Arnold, Stéphane J.-B. Bauguitte, Hartmut Boesch, Anita L. Ganesan, Aoife Grant, Carole Helfter, Eiko Nemitz, Simon J. O'Doherty, Paul I. Palmer, Joseph R. Pitt, Chris Rennick, Daniel Say, Kieran M. Stanley, Ann R. Stavert, Dickon Young, and Matt Rigby
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16257–16276, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16257-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16257-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We present an evaluation of the UK's methane emissions between 2013 and 2020 using a network of tall tower measurement sites. We find emissions that are consistent in both magnitude and trend with the UK's reported emissions, with a declining trend driven by a decrease in emissions from England. The impact of various components of the modelling set-up on these findings are explored through a number of sensitivity studies.
Adam R. Vaughan, James D. Lee, Stefan Metzger, David Durden, Alastair C. Lewis, Marvin D. Shaw, Will S. Drysdale, Ruth M. Purvis, Brian Davison, and C. Nicholas Hewitt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15283–15298, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15283-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15283-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Validating emissions estimates of atmospheric pollutants is a vital pathway towards reducing urban concentrations of air pollution and ensuring effective legislative controls are implemented. The work presented here highlights a strategy capable of quantifying and spatially disaggregating NOx emissions over challenging urban terrain. This work shows great scope as a tool for emission inventory validation and independent generation of high-resolution surface emissions on a city-wide scale.
Beth S. Nelson, Gareth J. Stewart, Will S. Drysdale, Mike J. Newland, Adam R. Vaughan, Rachel E. Dunmore, Pete M. Edwards, Alastair C. Lewis, Jacqueline F. Hamilton, W. Joe Acton, C. Nicholas Hewitt, Leigh R. Crilley, Mohammed S. Alam, Ülkü A. Şahin, David C. S. Beddows, William J. Bloss, Eloise Slater, Lisa K. Whalley, Dwayne E. Heard, James M. Cash, Ben Langford, Eiko Nemitz, Roberto Sommariva, Sam Cox, Shivani, Ranu Gadi, Bhola R. Gurjar, James R. Hopkins, Andrew R. Rickard, and James D. Lee
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13609–13630, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13609-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13609-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Ozone production at an urban site in Delhi is sensitive to volatile organic compound (VOC) concentrations, particularly those of the aromatic, monoterpene, and alkene VOC classes. The change in ozone production by varying atmospheric pollutants according to their sources, as defined in an emissions inventory, is investigated. The study suggests that reducing road transport emissions alone does not reduce reactive VOCs in the atmosphere enough to perturb an increase in ozone production.
Bjorn Stevens, Sandrine Bony, David Farrell, Felix Ament, Alan Blyth, Christopher Fairall, Johannes Karstensen, Patricia K. Quinn, Sabrina Speich, Claudia Acquistapace, Franziska Aemisegger, Anna Lea Albright, Hugo Bellenger, Eberhard Bodenschatz, Kathy-Ann Caesar, Rebecca Chewitt-Lucas, Gijs de Boer, Julien Delanoë, Leif Denby, Florian Ewald, Benjamin Fildier, Marvin Forde, Geet George, Silke Gross, Martin Hagen, Andrea Hausold, Karen J. Heywood, Lutz Hirsch, Marek Jacob, Friedhelm Jansen, Stefan Kinne, Daniel Klocke, Tobias Kölling, Heike Konow, Marie Lothon, Wiebke Mohr, Ann Kristin Naumann, Louise Nuijens, Léa Olivier, Robert Pincus, Mira Pöhlker, Gilles Reverdin, Gregory Roberts, Sabrina Schnitt, Hauke Schulz, A. Pier Siebesma, Claudia Christine Stephan, Peter Sullivan, Ludovic Touzé-Peiffer, Jessica Vial, Raphaela Vogel, Paquita Zuidema, Nicola Alexander, Lyndon Alves, Sophian Arixi, Hamish Asmath, Gholamhossein Bagheri, Katharina Baier, Adriana Bailey, Dariusz Baranowski, Alexandre Baron, Sébastien Barrau, Paul A. Barrett, Frédéric Batier, Andreas Behrendt, Arne Bendinger, Florent Beucher, Sebastien Bigorre, Edmund Blades, Peter Blossey, Olivier Bock, Steven Böing, Pierre Bosser, Denis Bourras, Pascale Bouruet-Aubertot, Keith Bower, Pierre Branellec, Hubert Branger, Michal Brennek, Alan Brewer, Pierre-Etienne Brilouet, Björn Brügmann, Stefan A. Buehler, Elmo Burke, Ralph Burton, Radiance Calmer, Jean-Christophe Canonici, Xavier Carton, Gregory Cato Jr., Jude Andre Charles, Patrick Chazette, Yanxu Chen, Michal T. Chilinski, Thomas Choularton, Patrick Chuang, Shamal Clarke, Hugh Coe, Céline Cornet, Pierre Coutris, Fleur Couvreux, Susanne Crewell, Timothy Cronin, Zhiqiang Cui, Yannis Cuypers, Alton Daley, Gillian M. Damerell, Thibaut Dauhut, Hartwig Deneke, Jean-Philippe Desbios, Steffen Dörner, Sebastian Donner, Vincent Douet, Kyla Drushka, Marina Dütsch, André Ehrlich, Kerry Emanuel, Alexandros Emmanouilidis, Jean-Claude Etienne, Sheryl Etienne-Leblanc, Ghislain Faure, Graham Feingold, Luca Ferrero, Andreas Fix, Cyrille Flamant, Piotr Jacek Flatau, Gregory R. Foltz, Linda Forster, Iulian Furtuna, Alan Gadian, Joseph Galewsky, Martin Gallagher, Peter Gallimore, Cassandra Gaston, Chelle Gentemann, Nicolas Geyskens, Andreas Giez, John Gollop, Isabelle Gouirand, Christophe Gourbeyre, Dörte de Graaf, Geiske E. de Groot, Robert Grosz, Johannes Güttler, Manuel Gutleben, Kashawn Hall, George Harris, Kevin C. Helfer, Dean Henze, Calvert Herbert, Bruna Holanda, Antonio Ibanez-Landeta, Janet Intrieri, Suneil Iyer, Fabrice Julien, Heike Kalesse, Jan Kazil, Alexander Kellman, Abiel T. Kidane, Ulrike Kirchner, Marcus Klingebiel, Mareike Körner, Leslie Ann Kremper, Jan Kretzschmar, Ovid Krüger, Wojciech Kumala, Armin Kurz, Pierre L'Hégaret, Matthieu Labaste, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Arlene Laing, Peter Landschützer, Theresa Lang, Diego Lange, Ingo Lange, Clément Laplace, Gauke Lavik, Rémi Laxenaire, Caroline Le Bihan, Mason Leandro, Nathalie Lefevre, Marius Lena, Donald Lenschow, Qiang Li, Gary Lloyd, Sebastian Los, Niccolò Losi, Oscar Lovell, Christopher Luneau, Przemyslaw Makuch, Szymon Malinowski, Gaston Manta, Eleni Marinou, Nicholas Marsden, Sebastien Masson, Nicolas Maury, Bernhard Mayer, Margarette Mayers-Als, Christophe Mazel, Wayne McGeary, James C. McWilliams, Mario Mech, Melina Mehlmann, Agostino Niyonkuru Meroni, Theresa Mieslinger, Andreas Minikin, Peter Minnett, Gregor Möller, Yanmichel Morfa Avalos, Caroline Muller, Ionela Musat, Anna Napoli, Almuth Neuberger, Christophe Noisel, David Noone, Freja Nordsiek, Jakub L. Nowak, Lothar Oswald, Douglas J. Parker, Carolyn Peck, Renaud Person, Miriam Philippi, Albert Plueddemann, Christopher Pöhlker, Veronika Pörtge, Ulrich Pöschl, Lawrence Pologne, Michał Posyniak, Marc Prange, Estefanía Quiñones Meléndez, Jule Radtke, Karim Ramage, Jens Reimann, Lionel Renault, Klaus Reus, Ashford Reyes, Joachim Ribbe, Maximilian Ringel, Markus Ritschel, Cesar B. Rocha, Nicolas Rochetin, Johannes Röttenbacher, Callum Rollo, Haley Royer, Pauline Sadoulet, Leo Saffin, Sanola Sandiford, Irina Sandu, Michael Schäfer, Vera Schemann, Imke Schirmacher, Oliver Schlenczek, Jerome Schmidt, Marcel Schröder, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Andrea Sealy, Christoph J. Senff, Ilya Serikov, Samkeyat Shohan, Elizabeth Siddle, Alexander Smirnov, Florian Späth, Branden Spooner, M. Katharina Stolla, Wojciech Szkółka, Simon P. de Szoeke, Stéphane Tarot, Eleni Tetoni, Elizabeth Thompson, Jim Thomson, Lorenzo Tomassini, Julien Totems, Alma Anna Ubele, Leonie Villiger, Jan von Arx, Thomas Wagner, Andi Walther, Ben Webber, Manfred Wendisch, Shanice Whitehall, Anton Wiltshire, Allison A. Wing, Martin Wirth, Jonathan Wiskandt, Kevin Wolf, Ludwig Worbes, Ethan Wright, Volker Wulfmeyer, Shanea Young, Chidong Zhang, Dongxiao Zhang, Florian Ziemen, Tobias Zinner, and Martin Zöger
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4067–4119, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The EUREC4A field campaign, designed to test hypothesized mechanisms by which clouds respond to warming and benchmark next-generation Earth-system models, is presented. EUREC4A comprised roughly 5 weeks of measurements in the downstream winter trades of the North Atlantic – eastward and southeastward of Barbados. It was the first campaign that attempted to characterize the full range of processes and scales influencing trade wind clouds.
Ernesto Reyes-Villegas, Upasana Panda, Eoghan Darbyshire, James M. Cash, Rutambhara Joshi, Ben Langford, Chiara F. Di Marco, Neil J. Mullinger, Mohammed S. Alam, Leigh R. Crilley, Daniel J. Rooney, W. Joe F. Acton, Will Drysdale, Eiko Nemitz, Michael Flynn, Aristeidis Voliotis, Gordon McFiggans, Hugh Coe, James Lee, C. Nicholas Hewitt, Mathew R. Heal, Sachin S. Gunthe, Tuhin K. Mandal, Bhola R. Gurjar, Shivani, Ranu Gadi, Siddhartha Singh, Vijay Soni, and James D. Allan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 11655–11667, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11655-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11655-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This paper shows the first multisite online measurements of PM1 in Delhi, India, with measurements over different seasons in Old Delhi and New Delhi in 2018. Organic aerosol (OA) source apportionment was performed using positive matrix factorisation (PMF). Traffic was the main primary aerosol source for both OAs and black carbon, seen with PMF and Aethalometer model analysis, indicating that control of primary traffic exhaust emissions would make a significant reduction to Delhi air pollution.
Gongda Lu, Eloise A. Marais, Tuan V. Vu, Jingsha Xu, Zongbo Shi, James D. Lee, Qiang Zhang, Lu Shen, Gan Luo, and Fangqun Yu
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-428, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-428, 2021
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
Emission controls were imposed in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei in northern China in autumn-winter 2017. We find that regional PM2.5 targets (15 % decrease relative to previous year) were exceeded. Our analysis shows that decline in precursor emissions only leads to less than half (43 %) the improved air quality. Most of the change (57 %) is due to interannual variability in meteorology. Stricter emission controls may be necessary in years with unfavourable meteorology.
Sara M. Defratyka, Jean-Daniel Paris, Camille Yver-Kwok, Daniel Loeb, James France, Jon Helmore, Nigel Yarrow, Valérie Gros, and Philippe Bousquet
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5049–5069, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5049-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5049-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We consider the possibility of using the CRDS Picarro G2201-i instrument, originally designed for isotopic CH4 and CO2, for measurements of ethane : methane in near-source conditions. The work involved laboratory tests, a controlled release experiment and mobile measurements. We show the potential of determining ethane : methane with 50 ppb ethane uncertainty. The instrument can correctly estimate the ratio in CH4 enhancements of 1 ppm and more, as can be found at strongly emitting sites.
Xinyi Lu, Stephen J. Harris, Rebecca E. Fisher, James L. France, Euan G. Nisbet, David Lowry, Thomas Röckmann, Carina van der Veen, Malika Menoud, Stefan Schwietzke, and Bryce F. J. Kelly
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 10527–10555, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10527-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10527-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Many coal seam gas (CSG) facilities in the Surat Basin, Australia, are adjacent to other sources of methane, including agricultural, urban, and natural seeps. This makes it challenging to estimate the amount of methane being emitted into the atmosphere from CSG facilities. This research demonstrates that measurements of the carbon and hydrogen stable isotopic composition of methane can distinguish between and apportion methane emissions from CSG facilities, cattle, and many other sources.
Huihui Wu, Jonathan W. Taylor, Justin M. Langridge, Chenjie Yu, James D. Allan, Kate Szpek, Michael I. Cotterell, Paul I. Williams, Michael Flynn, Patrick Barker, Cathryn Fox, Grant Allen, James Lee, and Hugh Coe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9417–9440, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9417-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9417-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Seasonal biomass burning over West Africa is a globally significant source of carbonaceous particles in the atmosphere, which have important climate impacts but are poorly constrained. We conducted in situ airborne measurements to investigate the evolution of smoke aerosol properties in this region. We observed absorption enhancement for both black carbon and brown carbon after emission, which provides new field results and constraints on aerosol parameterizations for future climate models.
Julian Kostinek, Anke Roiger, Maximilian Eckl, Alina Fiehn, Andreas Luther, Norman Wildmann, Theresa Klausner, Andreas Fix, Christoph Knote, Andreas Stohl, and André Butz
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8791–8807, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8791-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8791-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Abundant mining and industrial activities in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin lead to large emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane. This study quantifies these emissions with continuous, high-precision airborne measurements and dispersion modeling. Our emission estimates are in line with values reported in the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR 2017) but significantly lower than values reported in the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR v4.3.2).
David R. Lyon, Benjamin Hmiel, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, Katherine A. Roberts, Zachary R. Barkley, Kenneth J. Davis, Natasha L. Miles, Vanessa C. Monteiro, Scott J. Richardson, Stephen Conley, Mackenzie L. Smith, Daniel J. Jacob, Lu Shen, Daniel J. Varon, Aijun Deng, Xander Rudelis, Nikhil Sharma, Kyle T. Story, Adam R. Brandt, Mary Kang, Eric A. Kort, Anthony J. Marchese, and Steven P. Hamburg
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6605–6626, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6605-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6605-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The Permian Basin (USA) is the world’s largest oil field. We use tower- and aircraft-based approaches to measure how methane emissions in the Permian Basin changed throughout 2020. In early 2020, 3.3 % of the region’s gas was emitted; then in spring 2020, the loss rate temporarily dropped to 1.9 % as oil price crashed. We find this short-term reduction to be a result of reduced well development, less gas flaring, and fewer abnormal events despite minimal reductions in oil and gas production.
Claire E. Reeves, Graham P. Mills, Lisa K. Whalley, W. Joe F. Acton, William J. Bloss, Leigh R. Crilley, Sue Grimmond, Dwayne E. Heard, C. Nicholas Hewitt, James R. Hopkins, Simone Kotthaus, Louisa J. Kramer, Roderic L. Jones, James D. Lee, Yanhui Liu, Bin Ouyang, Eloise Slater, Freya Squires, Xinming Wang, Robert Woodward-Massey, and Chunxiang Ye
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6315–6330, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6315-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6315-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The impact of isoprene on atmospheric chemistry is dependent on how its oxidation products interact with other pollutants, specifically nitrogen oxides. Such interactions can lead to isoprene nitrates. We made measurements of the concentrations of individual isoprene nitrate isomers in Beijing and used a model to test current understanding of their chemistry. We highlight areas of uncertainty in understanding, in particular the chemistry following oxidation of isoprene by the nitrate radical.
Langwen Huang and David Topping
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 2187–2203, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-2187-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-2187-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
As our knowledge and understanding of atmospheric aerosol particle evolution and impact grows, designing community mechanistic models requires an ability to capture increasing chemical, physical and therefore numerical complexity. As the landscape of computing software and hardware evolves, it is important to profile the usefulness of emerging platforms in tackling this complexity. With this in mind we present JlBox v1.1, written in Julia.
Simone T. Andersen, Lucy J. Carpenter, Beth S. Nelson, Luis Neves, Katie A. Read, Chris Reed, Martyn Ward, Matthew J. Rowlinson, and James D. Lee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3071–3085, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3071-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3071-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
NOx has been measured in remote marine air via chemiluminescence detection using two different methods for NO2 to NO photolytic conversion: (a) internal diodes and a reaction chamber made of Teflon-like barium-doped material, which causes a NO2 artefact, and (b) external diodes and a quartz photolysis cell. Once corrections are made for the artefact of (a), the two converters are shown to give comparable NO2 mixing ratios, giving confidence in the quantitative measurement of NOx at low levels.
Stuart K. Grange, James D. Lee, Will S. Drysdale, Alastair C. Lewis, Christoph Hueglin, Lukas Emmenegger, and David C. Carslaw
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 4169–4185, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4169-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4169-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The changes in mobility across Europe due to the COVID-19 lockdowns had consequences for air quality. We compare what was experienced to estimates of "what would have been" without the lockdowns. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), an important vehicle-sourced pollutant, decreased by a third. However, ozone (O3) increased in response to lower NO2. Because NO2 is decreasing over time, increases in O3 can be expected in European urban areas and will require management to avoid future negative outcomes.
Shona E. Wilde, Pamela A. Dominutti, Grant Allen, Stephen J. Andrews, Prudence Bateson, Stephane J.-B. Bauguitte, Ralph R. Burton, Ioana Colfescu, James France, James R. Hopkins, Langwen Huang, Anna E. Jones, Tom Lachlan-Cope, James D. Lee, Alastair C. Lewis, Stephen D. Mobbs, Alexandra Weiss, Stuart Young, and Ruth M. Purvis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3741–3762, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3741-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3741-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We use airborne measurements to evaluate the speciation of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from offshore oil and gas (O&G) installations in the North Sea. The composition of emissions varied across regions associated with either gas, condensate or oil extraction, demonstrating that VOC emissions are not uniform across the whole O&G sector. We compare our results to VOC source profiles in the UK emissions inventory, showing these emissions are not currently fully characterized.
Max Thomas, James France, Odile Crabeck, Benjamin Hall, Verena Hof, Dirk Notz, Tokoloho Rampai, Leif Riemenschneider, Oliver John Tooth, Mathilde Tranter, and Jan Kaiser
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1833–1849, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1833-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1833-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We describe the Roland von Glasow Air-Sea-Ice Chamber, a laboratory facility for studying ocean–sea-ice–atmosphere interactions. We characterise the technical capabilities of our facility to help future users plan and perform experiments. We also characterise the sea ice grown in the facility, showing that the extinction of photosynthetically active radiation, the bulk salinity, and the growth rate of our artificial sea ice are within the range of natural values.
Gareth J. Stewart, Beth S. Nelson, W. Joe F. Acton, Adam R. Vaughan, Naomi J. Farren, James R. Hopkins, Martyn W. Ward, Stefan J. Swift, Rahul Arya, Arnab Mondal, Ritu Jangirh, Sakshi Ahlawat, Lokesh Yadav, Sudhir K. Sharma, Siti S. M. Yunus, C. Nicholas Hewitt, Eiko Nemitz, Neil Mullinger, Ranu Gadi, Lokesh K. Sahu, Nidhi Tripathi, Andrew R. Rickard, James D. Lee, Tuhin K. Mandal, and Jacqueline F. Hamilton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 2407–2426, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2407-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2407-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Biomass burning releases many lower-molecular-weight organic species which are difficult to analyse but important for the formation of organic aerosol. This study examined a new high-resolution technique to better characterise these difficult-to-analyse organic components. Some burning sources analysed in this study, such as cow dung cake and municipal solid waste, released extremely complex mixtures containing many thousands of different lower-volatility organic compounds.
Gareth J. Stewart, W. Joe F. Acton, Beth S. Nelson, Adam R. Vaughan, James R. Hopkins, Rahul Arya, Arnab Mondal, Ritu Jangirh, Sakshi Ahlawat, Lokesh Yadav, Sudhir K. Sharma, Rachel E. Dunmore, Siti S. M. Yunus, C. Nicholas Hewitt, Eiko Nemitz, Neil Mullinger, Ranu Gadi, Lokesh K. Sahu, Nidhi Tripathi, Andrew R. Rickard, James D. Lee, Tuhin K. Mandal, and Jacqueline F. Hamilton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 2383–2406, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2383-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2383-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Biomass burning is a major source of trace gases to the troposphere; however, the composition and quantity of emissions vary greatly between different fuel types. This work provided near-total quantitation of non-methane volatile organic compounds from combustion of biofuels from India. Emissions from cow dung cake combustion were significantly larger than conventional fuelwood combustion, potentially indicating that this source has a disproportionately large impact on regional air quality.
Lisa K. Whalley, Eloise J. Slater, Robert Woodward-Massey, Chunxiang Ye, James D. Lee, Freya Squires, James R. Hopkins, Rachel E. Dunmore, Marvin Shaw, Jacqueline F. Hamilton, Alastair C. Lewis, Archit Mehra, Stephen D. Worrall, Asan Bacak, Thomas J. Bannan, Hugh Coe, Carl J. Percival, Bin Ouyang, Roderic L. Jones, Leigh R. Crilley, Louisa J. Kramer, William J. Bloss, Tuan Vu, Simone Kotthaus, Sue Grimmond, Yele Sun, Weiqi Xu, Siyao Yue, Lujie Ren, W. Joe F. Acton, C. Nicholas Hewitt, Xinming Wang, Pingqing Fu, and Dwayne E. Heard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 2125–2147, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2125-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2125-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
To understand how emission controls will impact ozone, an understanding of the sources and sinks of OH and the chemical cycling between peroxy radicals is needed. This paper presents measurements of OH, HO2 and total RO2 taken in central Beijing. The radical observations are compared to a detailed chemistry model, which shows that under low NO conditions, there is a missing OH source. Under high NOx conditions, the model under-predicts RO2 and impacts our ability to model ozone.
Mike J. Newland, Daniel J. Bryant, Rachel E. Dunmore, Thomas J. Bannan, W. Joe F. Acton, Ben Langford, James R. Hopkins, Freya A. Squires, William Dixon, William S. Drysdale, Peter D. Ivatt, Mathew J. Evans, Peter M. Edwards, Lisa K. Whalley, Dwayne E. Heard, Eloise J. Slater, Robert Woodward-Massey, Chunxiang Ye, Archit Mehra, Stephen D. Worrall, Asan Bacak, Hugh Coe, Carl J. Percival, C. Nicholas Hewitt, James D. Lee, Tianqu Cui, Jason D. Surratt, Xinming Wang, Alastair C. Lewis, Andrew R. Rickard, and Jacqueline F. Hamilton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1613–1625, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1613-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1613-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We report the formation of secondary pollutants in the urban megacity of Beijing that are typically associated with remote regions such as rainforests. This is caused by extremely low levels of nitric oxide (NO), typically expected to be high in urban areas, observed in the afternoon. This work has significant implications for how we understand atmospheric chemistry in the urban environment and thus for how to implement effective policies to improve urban air quality.
Georgia Sotiropoulou, Étienne Vignon, Gillian Young, Hugh Morrison, Sebastian J. O'Shea, Thomas Lachlan-Cope, Alexis Berne, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 755–771, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-755-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-755-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Summer clouds have a significant impact on the radiation budget of the Antarctic surface and thus on ice-shelf melting. However, these are poorly represented in climate models due to errors in their microphysical structure, including the number of ice crystals that they contain. We show that breakup from ice particle collisions can substantially magnify the ice crystal number concentration with significant implications for surface radiation. This process is currently missing in climate models.
Rutambhara Joshi, Dantong Liu, Eiko Nemitz, Ben Langford, Neil Mullinger, Freya Squires, James Lee, Yunfei Wu, Xiaole Pan, Pingqing Fu, Simone Kotthaus, Sue Grimmond, Qiang Zhang, Ruili Wu, Oliver Wild, Michael Flynn, Hugh Coe, and James Allan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 147–162, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-147-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-147-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Black carbon (BC) is a component of particulate matter which has significant effects on climate and human health. Sources of BC include biomass burning, transport, industry and domestic cooking and heating. In this study, we measured BC emissions in Beijing, finding a dominance of traffic emissions over all other sources. The quantitative method presented here has benefits for revising widely used emissions inventories and for understanding BC sources with impacts on air quality and climate.
James L. France, Prudence Bateson, Pamela Dominutti, Grant Allen, Stephen Andrews, Stephane Bauguitte, Max Coleman, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Rebecca E. Fisher, Langwen Huang, Anna E. Jones, James Lee, David Lowry, Joseph Pitt, Ruth Purvis, John Pyle, Jacob Shaw, Nicola Warwick, Alexandra Weiss, Shona Wilde, Jonathan Witherstone, and Stuart Young
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 71–88, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-71-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-71-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Measuring emission rates of methane from installations is tricky, and it is even more so when those installations are located offshore. Here, we show the aircraft set-up and demonstrate an effective methodology for surveying emissions from UK and Dutch offshore oil and gas installations. We present example data collected from two campaigns to demonstrate the challenges and solutions encountered during these surveys.
David C. Loades, Mingxi Yang, Thomas G. Bell, Adam R. Vaughan, Ryan J. Pound, Stefan Metzger, James D. Lee, and Lucy J. Carpenter
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6915–6931, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6915-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6915-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The loss of ozone to the sea surface was measured from the south coast of the UK and was found to be more rapid than previous observations over the open ocean. This is likely a consequence of different chemistry and biology in coastal environments. Strong winds appeared to speed up the loss of ozone. A better understanding of what influences ozone loss over the sea will lead to better model estimates of total ozone in the troposphere.
James D. Lee, Will S. Drysdale, Doug P. Finch, Shona E. Wilde, and Paul I. Palmer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15743–15759, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15743-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15743-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Efforts to prevent the COVID-19 virus spreading across the globe have included travel restrictions and the closure of workplaces, leading to a significant drop in emissions of primary air pollutants. This provides for a unique opportunity to examine how air pollutant concentrations respond to an abrupt and prolonged reduction. We examine how NO2 and O3 have been affected at several urban measurement sites in the UK. We look at the change in NO2 compared to previous years and the effect on O3.
Patrick A. Barker, Grant Allen, Martin Gallagher, Joseph R. Pitt, Rebecca E. Fisher, Thomas Bannan, Euan G. Nisbet, Stéphane J.-B. Bauguitte, Dominika Pasternak, Samuel Cliff, Marina B. Schimpf, Archit Mehra, Keith N. Bower, James D. Lee, Hugh Coe, and Carl J. Percival
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15443–15459, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15443-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15443-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Africa is estimated to account for approximately 52 % of global biomass burning (BB) carbon emissions. Despite this, there has been little previous in situ study of African BB emissions. This work presents BB emission factors for various atmospheric trace gases sampled from an aircraft in two distinct areas of Africa (Senegal and Uganda). Intracontinental variability in biomass burning methane emission is identified, which is attributed to difference in the specific fuel mixtures burnt.
W. Joe F. Acton, Zhonghui Huang, Brian Davison, Will S. Drysdale, Pingqing Fu, Michael Hollaway, Ben Langford, James Lee, Yanhui Liu, Stefan Metzger, Neil Mullinger, Eiko Nemitz, Claire E. Reeves, Freya A. Squires, Adam R. Vaughan, Xinming Wang, Zhaoyi Wang, Oliver Wild, Qiang Zhang, Yanli Zhang, and C. Nicholas Hewitt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15101–15125, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15101-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15101-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Air quality in Beijing is of concern to both policy makers and the general public. In order to address concerns about air quality it is vital that the sources of atmospheric pollutants are understood. This work presents the first top-down measurement of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions in Beijing. These measurements are used to evaluate the emissions inventory and assess the impact of VOC emission from the city centre on atmospheric chemistry.
Hossein Maazallahi, Julianne M. Fernandez, Malika Menoud, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Zachary D. Weller, Stefan Schwietzke, Joseph C. von Fischer, Hugo Denier van der Gon, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14717–14740, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14717-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14717-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Methane accounts for ∼ 25 % of current climate warming. The current lack of methane measurements is a barrier for tracking major sources, which are key for near-term climate mitigation. We use mobile measurements to identify and quantify methane emission sources in Utrecht (NL) and Hamburg (DE) with a focus on natural gas pipeline leaks. The measurements resulted in fixing the major leaks by the local utility, but coordinated efforts are needed at national levels for further emission reductions.
Eloise J. Slater, Lisa K. Whalley, Robert Woodward-Massey, Chunxiang Ye, James D. Lee, Freya Squires, James R. Hopkins, Rachel E. Dunmore, Marvin Shaw, Jacqueline F. Hamilton, Alastair C. Lewis, Leigh R. Crilley, Louisa Kramer, William Bloss, Tuan Vu, Yele Sun, Weiqi Xu, Siyao Yue, Lujie Ren, W. Joe F. Acton, C. Nicholas Hewitt, Xinming Wang, Pingqing Fu, and Dwayne E. Heard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14847–14871, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14847-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14847-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The paper details atmospheric chemistry in a megacity (Beijing), focussing on radicals which mediate the formation of secondary pollutants such as ozone and particles. Highly polluted conditions were experienced, including the highest ever levels of nitric oxide (NO), with simultaneous radical measurements. Radical concentrations were large during "haze" events, demonstrating active photochemistry. Modelling showed that our understanding of the chemistry at high NOx levels is incomplete.
Yongjoo Choi, Yugo Kanaya, Masayuki Takigawa, Chunmao Zhu, Seung-Myung Park, Atsushi Matsuki, Yasuhiro Sadanaga, Sang-Woo Kim, Xiaole Pan, and Ignacio Pisso
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13655–13670, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13655-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13655-2020, 2020
Mohammed S. Alam, Leigh R. Crilley, James D. Lee, Louisa J. Kramer, Christian Pfrang, Mónica Vázquez-Moreno, Milagros Ródenas, Amalia Muñoz, and William J. Bloss
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 5977–5991, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5977-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5977-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We report on the interference arising in measurements of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from the presence of a range of alkenes in sampled air when using the most widespread air quality monitoring technique for chemiluminescence detection. Interferences of up to 11 % are reported, depending upon the alkene present and conditions used. Such interferences may be of substantial importance for the interpretation of ambient NOx data, particularly for high volatile organic compound and low NOx environments.
Huihui Wu, Jonathan W. Taylor, Kate Szpek, Justin M. Langridge, Paul I. Williams, Michael Flynn, James D. Allan, Steven J. Abel, Joseph Pitt, Michael I. Cotterell, Cathryn Fox, Nicholas W. Davies, Jim Haywood, and Hugh Coe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12697–12719, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12697-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12697-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Airborne measurements of highly aged biomass burning aerosols (BBAs) over the remote southeast Atlantic provide unique aerosol parameters for climate models. Our observations demonstrate the persistence of strongly absorbing BBAs across wide regions of the South Atlantic. We also found significant vertical variation in the single-scattering albedo of these BBAs, as a function of relative chemical composition and size. Aerosol properties in the marine BL are suggested to be separated from the FT.
Alina Fiehn, Julian Kostinek, Maximilian Eckl, Theresa Klausner, Michał Gałkowski, Jinxuan Chen, Christoph Gerbig, Thomas Röckmann, Hossein Maazallahi, Martina Schmidt, Piotr Korbeń, Jarosław Neçki, Pawel Jagoda, Norman Wildmann, Christian Mallaun, Rostyslav Bun, Anna-Leah Nickl, Patrick Jöckel, Andreas Fix, and Anke Roiger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12675–12695, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12675-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12675-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
A severe reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is necessary to fulfill the Paris Agreement. We use aircraft- and ground-based in situ observations of trace gases and wind speed from two flights over the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, Poland, for independent emission estimation. The derived methane emission estimates are within the range of emission inventories, carbon dioxide estimates are in the lower range and carbon monoxide emission estimates are slightly higher than emission inventory values.
Hirofumi Ohyama, Isamu Morino, Voltaire A. Velazco, Theresa Klausner, Gerry Bagtasa, Matthäus Kiel, Matthias Frey, Akihiro Hori, Osamu Uchino, Tsuneo Matsunaga, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Joshua P. DiGangi, Yonghoon Choi, Glenn S. Diskin, Sally E. Pusede, Alina Fiehn, Anke Roiger, Michael Lichtenstern, Hans Schlager, Pao K. Wang, Charles C.-K. Chou, Maria Dolores Andrés-Hernández, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 5149–5163, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5149-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5149-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of CO2 and CH4 measured by a solar viewing portable Fourier transform spectrometer (EM27/SUN) were validated with in situ profile data obtained during the transfer flights of two aircraft campaigns. Atmospheric dynamical properties based on ERA5 and WRF-Chem were used as criteria for selecting the best aircraft profiles for the validation. The resulting air-mass-independent correction factors for the EM27/SUN data were 0.9878 for CO2 and 0.9829 for CH4.
Li Zhang, Meiyun Lin, Andrew O. Langford, Larry W. Horowitz, Christoph J. Senff, Elizabeth Klovenski, Yuxuan Wang, Raul J. Alvarez II, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Patrick Cullis, Chance W. Sterling, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Steven S. Brown, Zachary C. J. Decker, Guillaume Kirgis, and Stephen Conley
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10379–10400, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10379-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10379-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Measuring and quantifying the sources of elevated springtime ozone in the southwestern US is challenging but relevant to the implications for control policy. Here we use intensive field measurements and two global models to study ozone sources in the region. We find that ozone from the stratosphere, wildfires, and Asia is an important source of high-ozone events in the region. Our analysis also helps understand the uncertainties in ozone simulations with individual models.
Cited articles
Allen, G., Hollingsworth, P., Kabbabe, K., Pitt, J. R., Mead, M. I., Illingworth, S., Roberts, G., Bourn, M., Shallcross, D. E., and Percival, C. J.: The development and trial of an unmanned aerial system for the measurement of methane flux from landfill and greenhouse gas emission hotspots, Waste Manage., 87, 883–892, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2017.12.024, 2019.
Brown, E. N., Friehe, C. A., and Lenschow, D. H.: The Use of Pressure Fluctuations on the Nose of an Aircraft for Measuring Air Motion, J. Clim. Appl. Meteorol., 22, 171–180, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(1983)022<0171:TUOPFO>2.0.CO;2, 1983.
Cambaliza, M. O. L., Shepson, P. B., Caulton, D. R., Stirm, B., Samarov, D., Gurney, K. R., Turnbull, J., Davis, K. J., Possolo, A., Karion, A., Sweeney, C., Moser, B., Hendricks, A., Lauvaux, T., Mays, K., Whetstone, J., Huang, J., Razlivanov, I., Miles, N. L., and Richardson, S. J.: Assessment of uncertainties of an aircraft-based mass balance approach for quantifying urban greenhouse gas emissions, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 9029–9050, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-9029-2014, 2014.
Carbon Limits: Overview of methane detection and measurement technologies for offshore applications: https://www.carbonlimits.no/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Methane-measurement-technologies-offshore_for-website.pdf (last access: 4 August 2021), 2020.
Conley, S., Franco, G., Faloona, I., Blake, D. R., Peischl, J., and Ryerson, T. B.: Methane emissions from the 2015 Aliso Canyon blowout in Los Angeles, CA, Science, 351, 1317–1320, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf2348, 2016.
Conley, S., Faloona, I., Mehrotra, S., Suard, M., Lenschow, D. H., Sweeney, C., Herndon, S., Schwietzke, S., Pétron, G., Pifer, J., Kort, E. A., and Schnell, R.: Application of Gauss's theorem to quantify localized surface emissions from airborne measurements of wind and trace gases, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 3345–3358, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3345-2017, 2017.
Conley, S. A., Faloona, I. C., Lenschow, D. H., Karion, A., and Sweeney, C.: A Low-Cost System for Measuring Horizontal Winds from Single-Engine Aircraft, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 31, 1312–1320, https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-13-00143.1, 2014.
Dlugokencky, E. J., Myers, R. C., Lang, P. M., Masarie, K. A., Crotwell, A. M., Thoning, K. W., Hall, B. D., Elkins, J. W., and Steele, L. P.: Conversion of NOAA atmospheric dry air CH4 mole fractions to a gravimetrically prepared standard scale, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D18306, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006035, 2005.
EIA: Offshore production nearly 30 % of global crude oil output in 2015, https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=28492 (last access: 5 January 2021), 2016.
Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements, Natural Environment Research Council, Met Office: MOYA: Ground station and in-situ airborne observations by the FAAM BAE-146 aircraft, Centre for Environmental Data Analysis, http://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/d309a5ab60b04b6c82eca6d006350ae6 (last access: September 2021), 2017.
Fiehn, A., Kostinek, J., Eckl, M., Klausner, T., Gałkowski, M., Chen, J., Gerbig, C., Röckmann, T., Maazallahi, H., Schmidt, M., Korbeń, P., Neçki, J., Jagoda, P., Wildmann, N., Mallaun, C., Bun, R., Nickl, A.-L., Jöckel, P., Fix, A., and Roiger, A.: Estimating CH4, CO2 and CO emissions from coal mining and industrial activities in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin using an aircraft-based mass balance approach, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12675–12695, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12675-2020, 2020.
France, J. L., Bateson, P., Dominutti, P., Allen, G., Andrews, S., Bauguitte, S., Coleman, M., Lachlan-Cope, T., Fisher, R. E., Huang, L., Jones, A. E., Lee, J., Lowry, D., Pitt, J., Purvis, R., Pyle, J., Shaw, J., Warwick, N., Weiss, A., Wilde, S., Witherstone, J., and Young, S.: Facility level measurement of offshore oil and gas installations from a medium-sized airborne platform: method development for quantification and source identification of methane emissions, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 71–88, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-71-2021, 2021.
Gorchov Negron, A. M., Kort, E. A., Conley, S. A., and Smith, M. L.: Airborne Assessment of Methane Emissions from Offshore Platforms in the U. S. Gulf of Mexico, Environ. Sci. Technol., 54, 5112–5120, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c00179, 2020.
Guha, A., Newman, S., Fairley, D., Dinh, T. M., Duca, L., Conley, S. C., Smith, M. L., Thorpe, A. K., Duren, R. M., Cusworth, D. H., Foster, K. T., Fischer, M. L., Jeong, S., Yesiller, N., Hanson, J. L., and Martien, P. T.: Assessment of Regional Methane Emission Inventories through Airborne Quantification in the San Francisco Bay Area, Environ. Sci. Technol., 54, 9254–9264, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c01212, 2020.
Husdal, G., Osenbroch, L., Yetkinoglu, Ö., and Øsenbrøt, A.: Cold venting and fugitive emissions from Norwegian offshore oil and gas facilities, https://www.miljodirektoratet.no/globalassets/publikasjoner/m515/m515.pdf (last access: 29 September 2021), 2016.
IEA: Methane Tracker Database, https://www.iea.org/articles/methane-tracker-database, last access: 15 December 2021.
IPCC: Chapter 4: Fugitive Emissions, in: 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, edited by: Eggleston, H. S., Buendia, L., Miwa, K., Ngara, T., and Tanabe, K., Volume 2: Energy, The National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Program, Hayama, Kanagawa, Japan, https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/pdf/2_Volume2/V2_4_Ch4_Fugitive_Emissions.pdf (last access: September 2021), 2006.
IPCC: 2019 Refinement to the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, edited by: Góez, D. and Irving, W., https://www.ipcc.ch/report/2019-refinement-to-the-2006-ipcc-guidelines-for-nationalgreenhouse-gas-inventories/ (last access: 29 April 2021), 2019.
Lee, J. D., Mobbs, S. D., Wellpott, A., Allen, G., Bauguitte, S. J.-B., Burton, R. R., Camilli, R., Coe, H., Fisher, R. E., France, J. L., Gallagher, M., Hopkins, J. R., Lanoiselle, M., Lewis, A. C., Lowry, D., Nisbet, E. G., Purvis, R. M., O'Shea, S., Pyle, J. A., and Ryerson, T. B.: Flow rate and source reservoir identification from airborne chemical sampling of the uncontrolled Elgin platform gas release, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1725–1739, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1725-2018, 2018.
Myhre, G., Shindell, D., Bréon, F.-M., Collins, W., Fuglestvedt, J., Huang, J., Koch, D., Lamarque, J.-F., Lee, D., Mendoza, B., Nakajima, T., Robock, A., Stephens, G., Takemura, T., and Zhang, H.: 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, edited by: Stocker, T. F., Qin, D., Plattner, G.-K., Tignor, M., Allen, S. K., Boschung, J., Nauels, A., Xia, Y., Bex, V., and Midgley, P. M., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/WG1AR5_all_final.pdf (last access: September 2021), 2013.
Nathan, B. J., Golston, L. M., O'Brien, A. S., Ross, K., Harrison, W. A., Tao, L., Lary, D. J., Johnson, D. R., Covington, A. N., Clark, N. N., and Zondlo, M. A.: Near-field characterization of methane emission variability from a compressor station using a model aircraft, Environ. Sci. Technol., 49, 7896–7903, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b00705, 2015.
Nisbet, E. G., Manning, M. R., Dlugokencky, E. J., Fisher, R. E., Lowry, D., Michel, S. E., Myhre, C. L., Platt, S. M., Allen, G., Bousquet, P., Brownlow, R., Cain, M., France, J. L., Hermansen, O., Hossaini, R., Jones, A. E., Levin, I., Manning, A. C., Myhre, G., Pyle, J. A., Vaughn, B. H., Warwick, N. J., and White, J. W. C.: Very Strong Atmospheric Methane Growth in the 4 Years 2014–2017: Implications for the Paris Agreement, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 33, 318–342, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GB006009, 2019.
Nisbet, E. G., Fisher, R. E., Lowry, D., France, J. L., Allen, G., Bakkaloglu, S., Broderick, T. J., Cain, M., Coleman, M., Fernandez, J., Forster, G., Griffiths, P. T., Iverach, C. P., Kelly, B. F. J., Manning, M. R., Nisbet-Jones, P. B. R., Pyle, J. A., Townsend-Small, A., al-Shalaan, A., Warwick, N., and Zazzeri, G.: Methane Mitigation: Methods to Reduce Emissions, on the Path to the Paris Agreement, Rev. Geophys., 58, e2019RG000675, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019RG000675, 2020.
Norwegian Oil and Gas Association: Recommended guidelines for discharge and emission reporting, https://www.norskoljeoggass.no/en/working-conditions/retningslinjer/environment/044–norwegian-oil-and-gas-recommended-guidelines-for-discharge-and-emission-reporting-new-revision-23022017/ (last access: 29 April 2021), 2018a.
Norwegian Oil and Gas Association: Handbook for quantifying direct methane and NMVOC emissions, https://www.norskoljeoggass.no/contentassets/cd872e74e25a4aadac1a6e820e7f5f95/044---appendix-b-voc-emmissions-guidelineline.pdf (last access: 29 September 2021), 2018b.
Norwegian Oil and Gas Association: 004 – Recommended guidelines for emission and discharge reporting, https://www.norskoljeoggass.no/contentassets/cd872e74e25a4aadac1a6e820e7f5f95/044--guidelines-for-discharge-and-emission-reporting_ver17_2019.pdf (last access: 29 September 2021), 2019.
Norwegian Oil and Gas Association: Reports relevant to Norwegian Oil and Gas' climate endeavours, https://www.norskoljeoggass.no/en/climate/reports/, last access: 10 August 2021a.
Norwegian Oil and Gas Association: Norwegian Oil and Gas recommended guidelines for discharge and emission reporting, https://norskoljeoggass.no/en/working-conditions/retningslinjer/environment/044–norwegian-oil-and-gas-recommended-guidelines-for-discharge-and-emission-reporting-new-revision-23022017/, last access: 29 September 2021b.
Norwegian Oil and Gas Association: Field-specific emission reports, https://norskoljeoggass.no/miljo/miljorapporter/miljorapport-2021/feltspesifikke-utslippsrapporter/, last access: 29 September 2021c.
Norwegian Petroleum Directorate Factpages: https://factpages.npd.no/en/field/TableView/Production/Saleable/Monthly, last access: 26 January 2021.
O'Shea, S. J., Bauguitte, S. J.-B., Gallagher, M. W., Lowry, D., and Percival, C. J.: Development of a cavity-enhanced absorption spectrometer for airborne measurements of CH4 and CO2, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 1095–1109, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1095-2013, 2013.
O'Shea, S. J., Allen, G., Fleming, Z. L., Bauguitte, S. J. B., Gallagher, M. W., Percival, C. J., Lee, J., Helfter, C., and Nemitz, E.: Area fluxes of carbon dioxide, methane and carbon monoxide derived from airborne measurements around Greater London: A case study during Summer 2012, J. Geophys. Res., 119, 4940–4952, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013JD021269, 2014.
Palmer, P. I., O'Doherty, S., Allen, G., Bower, K., Bösch, H., Chipperfield, M. P., Connors, S., Dhomse, S., Feng, L., Finch, D. P., Gallagher, M. W., Gloor, E., Gonzi, S., Harris, N. R. P., Helfter, C., Humpage, N., Kerridge, B., Knappett, D., Jones, R. L., Le Breton, M., Lunt, M. F., Manning, A. J., Matthiesen, S., Muller, J. B. A., Mullinger, N., Nemitz, E., O'Shea, S., Parker, R. J., Percival, C. J., Pitt, J., Riddick, S. N., Rigby, M., Sembhi, H., Siddans, R., Skelton, R. L., Smith, P., Sonderfeld, H., Stanley, K., Stavert, A. R., Wenger, A., White, E., Wilson, C., and Young, D.: A measurement-based verification framework for UK greenhouse gas emissions: an overview of the Greenhouse gAs Uk and Global Emissions (GAUGE) project, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11753–11777, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11753-2018, 2018.
Peischl, J., Karion, A., Sweeney, C., Kort, E. A., Smith, M. L., Brandt, A. R., Yeskoo, T., Aikin, K. C., Conley, S. A., Gvakharia, A., Trainer, M., Wolter, S., and Ryerson, T. B.: Quantifying atmospheric methane emissions from oil and gas production in the Bakken shale region of North Dakota, J. Geophys. Res., 121, 6101–6111, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD024631, 2016.
Petersen, G. N. and Renfrew, I. A.: Aircraft-based observations of air-sea fluxes over Denmark Strait and the Irminger Sea during high wind speed conditions, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 135, 2030–2045, https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.355, 2009.
Pétron, G., Frost, G., Miller, B. R., Hirsch, A. I., Montzka, A. E., Karion, A., Trainer, M., Sweeney, C., Andrews, A. E., Miller, L., Kofler, J., Bar-Ilan, A., Dlugokencky, E. J., Patrik, L., Moore Jr., C. T., Ryerson, T. B., Siso, C., Kolodzey, W., Lang, P. M., Conway, T., Novelli, P., Masarie, K., Hall, B., Guenther, D., Kitzis, D. F., Miller, J., Welsh, D., Wolfe, D., Neff, W., and Tans, P.: Hydrocarbon emissions characterization in the Colorado Front Range: A pilot study, J. Geophys. Res., 117, D04304, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JD016360, 2012.
Pisso, I., Sollum, E., Grythe, H., Kristiansen, N. I., Cassiani, M., Eckhardt, S., Arnold, D., Morton, D., Thompson, R. L., Groot Zwaaftink, C. D., Evangeliou, N., Sodemann, H., Haimberger, L., Henne, S., Brunner, D., Burkhart, J. F., Fouilloux, A., Brioude, J., Philipp, A., Seibert, P., and Stohl, A.: The Lagrangian particle dispersion model FLEXPART version 10.4, Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 4955–4997, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-4955-2019, 2019.
Pitt, J. R., Allen, G., Bauguitte, S. J.-B., Gallagher, M. W., Lee, J. D., Drysdale, W., Nelson, B., Manning, A. J., and Palmer, P. I.: Assessing London CO2, CH4 and CO emissions using aircraft measurements and dispersion modelling, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 8931–8945, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8931-2019, 2019.
Prather, M., Ehhalt, D., Dentener, F., Derwent, R., Dlugokencky, E., Holland, E., Isaksen, I., Katima, J., Kirchhoff, V., Matson, P., Midgley, P., and Wang, M.: Atmospheric chemistry and greenhouse gases, Chap. 4, in: Climate Change 2001, The scientific basis: Contribution of working group I to the Third assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate, edited by: Houghton, J. T., Ding, Y., Griggs, Y., Noguer, M., Linden, P. J., Dai, X., Maskell, K., and Johnson, C. A., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/03/TAR-04.pdf (last access: September 2021), 881, 2001.
Riddick, S. N., Mauzerall, D. L., Celia, M., Harris, N. R. P., Allen, G., Pitt, J., Staunton-Sykes, J., Forster, G. L., Kang, M., Lowry, D., Nisbet, E. G., and Manning, A. J.: Methane emissions from oil and gas platforms in the North Sea, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 9787–9796, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9787-2019, 2019.
Roiger, A., Thomas, J.-L., Schlager, H., Law, K. S., Kim, J., Schäfler, A., Weinzierl, B., Dahlkötter, F., Krisch, I., Marelle, L., Minikin, A., Raut, J.-C., Reiter, A., Rose, M., Scheibe, M., Stock, P., Baumann, R., Bouarar, I., Clerbaux, C., George, M., Onishi, T., and Flemming, J.: Quantifying Emerging Local Anthropogenic Emissions in the Arctic Region: The ACCESS Aircraft Campaign Experiment, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 96, 441–460, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-13-00169.1, 2015.
Ryerson, T. B., Camilli, R., Kessler, J. D., Kujawinski, E. B., Reddy, C. M., Valentine, D. L., Atlas, E., Blake, D. R., de Gouw, J., Meinardi, S., Parrish, D. D., Peischl, J., Seewald, J. S., and Warneke, C.: Chemical data quantify Deepwater Horizon hydrocarbon flow rate and environmental distribution, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 109, 20246–20253, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1110564109, 2012.
Scarpelli, T. R., Jacob, D. J., Maasakkers, J. D., Sulprizio, M. P., Sheng, J.-X., Rose, K., Romeo, L., Worden, J. R., and Janssens-Maenhout, G.: Global Inventory of Methane Emissions from Fuel Exploitation, Harvard Dataverse, https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/HH4EUM, 2019.
Scarpelli, T. R., Jacob, D. J., Maasakkers, J. D., Sulprizio, M. P., Sheng, J.-X., Rose, K., Romeo, L., Worden, J. R., and Janssens-Maenhout, G.: A global gridded (
Shah, A., Ricketts, H., Pitt, J. R., Shaw, J. T., Kabbabe, K., Leen, J. B., and Allen, G.: Unmanned aerial vehicle observations of cold venting from exploratory hydraulic fracturing in the United Kingdom, Environ. Res. Commun., 2, 021003, https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ab716d, 2020.
Shaw, J. T., Shah, A., Yong, H., and Allen, G.: Methods for quantifying methane emissions using unmanned aerial vehicles: A review, Philos. T. Roy. Soc. A, 379, 20200450, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2020.0450, 2021.
Tans, P., Zhao, C., and Kitzis, D.: The WMO Mole Fraction Scales for CO2 and other greenhouse gases, and uncertainty of the atmospheric measurements, in: 15th WMO/IAEA Meeting of Experts on Carbon Dioxide, Other Greenhouse Gases, and Related Tracer Measurement Techniques, 7–10 September 2009, Jena, Germany, 101–108, https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=9449 (last access: April 2021), 2009.
Tullos, E. E., Stokes, S. N., Cardoso-Saldaña, F. J., Herndon, S. C., Smith, B. J., and Allen, D. T.: Use of Short Duration Measurements to Estimate Methane Emissions at Oil and Gas Production Sites, Environ. Sci. Tech. Let., 8, 463–467, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00239, 2021.
White, W. H., Anderson, J. A., Blumenthal, D. L., Husar, R. B., Gillani, N. V., Husar, J. D., and Wilson, W. E.: Formation and transport of secondary air pollutants: ozone and aerosols in the St. Louis urban plume, Science, 194, 187–189, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.959846, 1976.
Wratt, D. S., Gimson, N. R., Brailsford, G. W., Lassey, K. R., Bromley, A. M., and Bell, M. J.: Estimating regional methane emissions from agriculture using aircraft measurements of concentration profiles, Atmos. Environ., 35, 497–508, https://doi.org/10.1016/s1352-2310(00)00336-8, 2001.
Xiao, Y., Logan, J. A., Jacob, D. J., Hudman, R. C., Yantosca, R., and Blake, D. R.: Global budget of ethane and regional constraints on US sources, J. Geophys. Res., 113, 306, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD009415, 2008.
Yacovitch, T. I., Daube, C., and Herndon, S. C.: Methane Emissions from Offshore Oil and Gas Platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, Environ. Sci. Technol., 54, 3530–3538, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b07148, 2020.
Yang, S., Talbot, R. W., Frish, M. B., Golston, L. M., Aubut, N. F., Zondlo, M. A., Gretencord, C., and McSpiritt, J.: Natural gas fugitive leak detection using an unmanned aerial vehicle: Measurement system description and mass balance approach, Atmosphere, 9, 383, https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos9100383, 2018.
Zavala-Araiza, D., Alvarez, R. A., Lyon, D. R., Allen, D. T., Marchese, A. J., Zimmerle, D. J., and Hamburg, S. P.: Super-emitters in natural gas infrastructure are caused by abnormal process conditions, Nat. Commun., 8, 14012, https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms14012, 2017.
Zavala-Araiza, D., Omara, M., Gautam, R., Smith, M. L., Pandey, S., Aben, I., Almanza-Veloz, V., Conley, S., Houweling, S., and Kort, E. A.: A tale of two regions: methane emissions from oil and gas production in offshore/onshore Mexico, Environ. Res. Lett., 16, 024019, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/abceeb, 2021.
Short summary
We measured CH4 emissions from 21 offshore oil and gas facilities in the Norwegian Sea in 2019. Measurements compared well with operator-reported emissions but were greatly underestimated when compared with a 2016 global fossil fuel inventory. This study demonstrates the need for up-to-date and accurate inventories for use in research and policy and the important benefits of best-practice reporting methods by operators. Airborne measurements are an effective tool to validate such inventories.
We measured CH4 emissions from 21 offshore oil and gas facilities in the Norwegian Sea in 2019....
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint