Articles | Volume 25, issue 22
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-15683-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-15683-2025
Research article
 | 
17 Nov 2025
Research article |  | 17 Nov 2025

Missing wintertime methane emissions from New York City related to combustion

Luke D. Schiferl, Andrew Hallward-Driemeier, Yuwei Zhao, Ricardo Toledo-Crow, and Róisín Commane

Related authors

WetCH4: a machine-learning-based upscaling of methane fluxes of northern wetlands during 2016–2022
Qing Ying, Benjamin Poulter, Jennifer D. Watts, Kyle A. Arndt, Anna-Maria Virkkala, Lori Bruhwiler, Youmi Oh, Brendan M. Rogers, Susan M. Natali, Hilary Sullivan, Amanda Armstrong, Eric J. Ward, Luke D. Schiferl, Clayton D. Elder, Olli Peltola, Annett Bartsch, Ankur R. Desai, Eugénie Euskirchen, Mathias Göckede, Bernhard Lehner, Mats B. Nilsson, Matthias Peichl, Oliver Sonnentag, Eeva-Stiina Tuittila, Torsten Sachs, Aram Kalhori, Masahito Ueyama, and Zhen Zhang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 2507–2534, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2507-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-2507-2025, 2025
Short summary
Multi-year observations of variable incomplete combustion in the New York megacity
Luke D. Schiferl, Cong Cao, Bronte Dalton, Andrew Hallward-Driemeier, Ricardo Toledo-Crow, and Róisín Commane
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10129–10142, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10129-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10129-2024, 2024
Short summary
Resolving heterogeneous fluxes from tundra halves the growing season carbon budget
Sarah M. Ludwig, Luke Schiferl, Jacqueline Hung, Susan M. Natali, and Roisin Commane
Biogeosciences, 21, 1301–1321, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1301-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-1301-2024, 2024
Short summary
Using atmospheric observations to quantify annual biogenic carbon dioxide fluxes on the Alaska North Slope
Luke D. Schiferl, Jennifer D. Watts, Erik J. L. Larson, Kyle A. Arndt, Sébastien C. Biraud, Eugénie S. Euskirchen, Jordan P. Goodrich, John M. Henderson, Aram Kalhori, Kathryn McKain, Marikate E. Mountain, J. William Munger, Walter C. Oechel, Colm Sweeney, Yonghong Yi, Donatella Zona, and Róisín Commane
Biogeosciences, 19, 5953–5972, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5953-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5953-2022, 2022
Short summary
Using atmospheric trace gas vertical profiles to evaluate model fluxes: a case study of Arctic-CAP observations and GEOS simulations for the ABoVE domain
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

Cited articles

Benjamin, S. G., Weygandt, S. S., Brown, J. M., Hu, M., Alexander, C. R., Smirnova, T. G., Olson, J. B., James, E. P., Dowell, D. C., Grell, G. A., Lin, H., Peckham, S. E., Smith, T. L., Moninger, W. R., Kenyon, J. S., and Manikin, G. S.: A North American Hourly Assimilation and Model Forecast Cycle: The Rapid Refresh, Mon. Weather Rev., 144, 1669–1694, https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-15-0242.1, 2016. 
Cao, C., Gentner, D. R., Commane, R., Toledo-Crow, R., Schiferl, L. D., and Mak, J. E.: Policy-Related Gains in Urban Air Quality May Be Offset by Increased Emissions in a Warming Climate, Environ. Sci. Technol., 57, 9683–9692, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c05904, 2023. 
Chapter 2: Housing Maintenance Code, https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/newyorkcity/latest/NYCadmin/0-0-0-60027 (last access: 9 January 2025), 2025. 
Chen, J., Dietrich, F., Maazallahi, H., Forstmaier, A., Winkler, D., Hofmann, M. E. G., Denier van der Gon, H., and Röckmann, T.: Methane emissions from the Munich Oktoberfest, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 3683–3696, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3683-2020, 2020. 
Download
Short summary
Identifying and quantifying methane emissions from urban sources is important for mitigating climate change. Using 6 years of winter and spring observations, we found that methane emissions from New York City are highly variable and underestimated compared to inventories, especially in winter, and correlate well with emissions of carbon monoxide (CO). Our results suggest a common urban incomplete combustion source for both methane and CO currently missing from emissions inventories.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint