Articles | Volume 25, issue 18
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-11407-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-11407-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
26 Sep 2025
Research article |
| 26 Sep 2025
| 26 Sep 2025
Isotopic signatures of methane emission from oil and natural gas plants in southwestern China
Dingxi Chen
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Ecological Remediation and Carbon Sequestration, Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Yi Liu
Safety, Environment and Technology Supervision Research Institute of PetroChina Southwest Oil and Gas Field Company, Chengdu 610041, China
Zetong Niu
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Ecological Remediation and Carbon Sequestration, Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Ao Wang
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Ecological Remediation and Carbon Sequestration, Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Pius Otwil
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Ecological Remediation and Carbon Sequestration, Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Yuanyuan Huang
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Ecological Remediation and Carbon Sequestration, Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Zhongcong Sun
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Ecological Remediation and Carbon Sequestration, Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Xiaobing Pang
College of Environment, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, China
Liyang Zhan
Key Laboratory of Global Change and Marine-Atmospheric Chemistry, Third Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Xiamen, 361005, China
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Ecological Remediation and Carbon Sequestration, Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, China
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Wangwang Ye, Hermann W. Bange, Damian L. Arévalo-Martínez, Hailun He, Yuhong Li, Jianwen Wen, Jiexia Zhang, Jian Liu, Man Wu, and Liyang Zhan
Biogeosciences Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2021-334, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2021-334, 2022
Manuscript not accepted for further review
Short summary
Short summary
CH4 is the second important greenhouse gas after CO2. We show that CH4 consumption and sea-ice melting influence the CH4 distribution in the Ross Sea (Southern Ocean), causing undersaturation and net uptake of CH4 during summertime. This study confirms the capability of surface water in the high-latitude Southern Ocean regions to take up atmospheric CH4 which, in turn, will help to improve predictions of how CH4 release/uptake from the ocean will develop when sea-ice retreats in the future.
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Short summary
We carried out a field study across eleven industrial sites of oil and natural gas production/processing in Southwest China, investigating the methane leakage pattern based on ground and airborne monitoring/sampling techniques. Based on a novel isotope method to trace methane sources, we identified that the methane emission from the oil and gas sites makes the major contribution to changes in atmospheric methane isotope signals.
We carried out a field study across eleven industrial sites of oil and natural gas...
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