Articles | Volume 23, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7503-2023
© Author(s) 2023. 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-23-7503-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Continuous weekly monitoring of methane emissions from the Permian Basin by inversion of TROPOMI satellite observations
Daniel J. Varon
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA, United States
GHGSat, Inc., Montréal, H2W 1Y5, Canada
Daniel J. Jacob
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA, United States
Benjamin Hmiel
Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, DC, United States
Ritesh Gautam
Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, DC, United States
David R. Lyon
Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, DC, United States
Mark Omara
Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, DC, United States
Melissa Sulprizio
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA, United States
Lu Shen
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics,
Peking University, Beijing, China
Drew Pendergrass
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA, United States
Hannah Nesser
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA, United States
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA, United States
Zachary R. Barkley
Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, The Pennsylvania
State University, University Park, PA, United States
Natasha L. Miles
Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, The Pennsylvania
State University, University Park, PA, United States
Scott J. Richardson
Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, The Pennsylvania
State University, University Park, PA, United States
Kenneth J. Davis
Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, The Pennsylvania
State University, University Park, PA, United States
Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, The Pennsylvania State
University, University Park, PA, United States
Sudhanshu Pandey
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology,
Pasadena, CA, United States
School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou,
China
Alba Lorente
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, the
Netherlands
Tobias Borsdorff
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, the
Netherlands
Joannes D. Maasakkers
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, the
Netherlands
Ilse Aben
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, the
Netherlands
Viewed
Total article views: 11,267 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)
Cumulative views and downloads
(calculated since 10 Nov 2022)
| HTML | XML | Total | BibTeX | EndNote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9,113 | 2,022 | 132 | 11,267 | 179 | 208 |
- HTML: 9,113
- PDF: 2,022
- XML: 132
- Total: 11,267
- BibTeX: 179
- EndNote: 208
Total article views: 8,432 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)
Cumulative views and downloads
(calculated since 11 Jul 2023)
| HTML | XML | Total | BibTeX | EndNote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7,362 | 955 | 115 | 8,432 | 164 | 185 |
- HTML: 7,362
- PDF: 955
- XML: 115
- Total: 8,432
- BibTeX: 164
- EndNote: 185
Total article views: 2,835 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)
Cumulative views and downloads
(calculated since 10 Nov 2022)
| HTML | XML | Total | BibTeX | EndNote | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,751 | 1,067 | 17 | 2,835 | 15 | 23 |
- HTML: 1,751
- PDF: 1,067
- XML: 17
- Total: 2,835
- BibTeX: 15
- EndNote: 23
Viewed (geographical distribution)
Total article views: 11,267 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)
Thereof 11,267 with geography defined
and 0 with unknown origin.
Total article views: 8,432 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)
Thereof 8,432 with geography defined
and 0 with unknown origin.
Total article views: 2,835 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)
Thereof 2,835 with geography defined
and 0 with unknown origin.
| Country | # | Views | % |
|---|
| Country | # | Views | % |
|---|
| Country | # | Views | % |
|---|
| Total: | 0 |
| HTML: | 0 |
| PDF: | 0 |
| XML: | 0 |
- 1
1
| Total: | 0 |
| HTML: | 0 |
| PDF: | 0 |
| XML: | 0 |
- 1
1
| Total: | 0 |
| HTML: | 0 |
| PDF: | 0 |
| XML: | 0 |
- 1
1
Latest update: 08 Nov 2025
Executive editor
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential much greater than carbon dioxide. In order to understand and limit its global warming effect, it is important to have have observation systems to estimate its anthropogenic emissions. This paper analyses in a novel way TROPOMI satellite observations to track methane emissions from the largest oil production basin in the United States over a 2-year period. The analysis shows that emission variability and trends are driven by multiple factors, among which new well development and natural gas spot price are the most significant ones. The work is an excellent demonstration of the potential of satellite observations for near-real-time monitoring of methane emissions. It opens a broad range of applications, helping science and policy to understand and mitigate climate change.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential much greater than carbon...
Short summary
We use TROPOMI satellite observations to quantify weekly methane emissions from the US Permian oil and gas basin from May 2018 to October 2020. We find that Permian emissions are highly variable, with diverse economic and activity drivers. The most important drivers during our study period were new well development and natural gas price. Permian methane intensity averaged 4.6 % and decreased by 1 % per year.
We use TROPOMI satellite observations to quantify weekly methane emissions from the US Permian...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint