Dataset associated with "Temporal variability largely explains difference in top-down and bottom-up estimates of methane emissions from a natural gas production region"
Files
BU_Input_Data_Study_Period.zip (4.41 KB) Input data for the bottom-up model BU_Output_Data_Flight_Windows.zip (733.39 KB) Output data from the bottom-up model during aircraft mass balance flight windows BU_Output_Data_Study_Period.zip (16.46 MB) Output data from the bottom-up model for the 48-hour period spanning October 1-2, 2015
Date
2018
Authors
Vaughn, Timothy L.
Bell, Clay S.
Pickering, Cody, K.
Schwietzke, Stefan
Heath, Garvin, A.
Petron, Gabrielle
Zimmerle, Daniel
Schnell, Russell, C.
Nummedal, Dag
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Abstract
This study is the first to spatially and temporally align top-down and bottom-up methane emission estimates for a natural gas production basin, using multi-scale emission measurements and detailed activity data reporting. We show that episodic venting from manual liquid unloadings, which occur at a small fraction of natural gas well pads, drives a factor-of-two temporal variation in the basin-scale emission rate of a US dry shale gas play. The mid-afternoon peak emission rate aligns with the sampling time of all regional aircraft emission studies, which target well-mixed boundary layer conditions present in the afternoon. A mechanistic understanding of emission estimates derived from various methods is critical for unbiased emission verification and effective GHG emission mitigation. Our results demonstrate that direct comparison of emission estimates from methods covering widely different time scales can be misleading.
Description
This dataset includes input and output data used in the bottom-up model described in the associated manuscript and accompanying Supplemental Information Appendix. Additionally, the input dataset includes a ReadMe.txt describing it, and each of the output datasets includes a ReadMe.txt and a FileListing.txt describing their contents.
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Energy Institute
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Energy Institute
Rights Access
Subject
natural gas
methane emissions
top-down
bottom-up
spatiotemporal inventory model
Citation
Associated Publications
Vaughn, TL, Bell, CS, Pickering, CK, Schwietzke, S, Heath, GA, Pétron, G, Zimmerle, DJ, Schnell, RC, Nummedal, D (2018) Temporal variability largely explains top-down/bottom-up difference in methane emission estimates from a natural gas production region. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 115: 11712-11717. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805687115