A52C-01
TOPDOWN 2015: A Multi-aircraft Assessment of Methane Emissions in the Four Corners Region
Friday, 18 December 2015: 10:20
3006 (Moscone West)
Eric A Kort1, Mackenzie Lynn Smith2, Alexander Gvakharia2, Colm Sweeney3, Christian Frankenberg4 and Stephen A Conley5, (1)University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States, (2)University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, United States, (3)NOAA Boulder, ESRL, Boulder, CO, United States, (4)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States, (5)University of California Davis, Davis, CA, United States
Abstract:
Satellite data collected from 2003-2009 highlighted the Four Corners region in the Southwest US as having notable methane enhancements relative to the surrounding locale. Analysis of those satellite observations indicated significant methane emissions (~0.59 Tg CH4/yr) in the region. Ground-based observations made in 2012 were consistent with this finding. Observational estimates of emissions from recent years are lacking, and there remains a gap in understanding why emissions of this magnitude have been present in the Four Corners region. The TOPDOWN 2015: San Juan campaign applied a layered, multi-aircraft approach to the Four Corners region to quantify total field methane emissions in 2015, quantify the contribution of major point sources, determine their prevalence, and demonstrate new technologies and approaches to attribution and quantification. In this talk I will discuss preliminary results from the airborne campaign, focusing on total field methane emissions, the role of point sources in the San Juan basin, how these preliminary results align with previous studies, and implications for current and future emissions in the Four Corners region.
