Identification of potential methane source regions in Europe using d13C-CH4 measurements and back trajectory modeling

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamás Varga ◽  
László Haszpra ◽  
István Major ◽  
Eugan G. Nisbet ◽  
David Lowry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mole Fraction ◽  
Pannonian Basin ◽  
Isotopic Shift ◽  
Back Trajectory ◽  
Natural Sources ◽  
Atmospheric Monitoring ◽  
Measurement Campaign ◽  
Source Regions ◽  
Methane Source ◽  
Tall Tower

<p>A three-year-long methane mole fraction and d<sup>13</sup>C<sub>CH4</sub> measurement campaign was performed at the Hungarian tall tower station, Hegyhátsál, between 2013-2016. The results were compared with that of two NOAA atmospheric monitoring sites Mace Head and Zeppelin to determine the continental methane excess and the relative isotopic shift. The data then were used for bac trajectory analyses to identify potential methane source regions in Europe coupled with d<sup>13</sup>C<sub>CH4 </sub>results. The Hungarian station can be separated from the coastal and polar areas based on the mole fraction results having higher maxima and seasonal amplitude, but the d<sup>13</sup>C<sub>CH4 </sub>results match well with the NOAA stations’ results. Our study shows that although the local, regional anthropogenic and natural sources are major influences, more distant regions can also influence the measured CH<sub>4</sub> level and d<sup>13</sup>C<sub>CH4 </sub>signal in the Pannonian Basin.</p>

scholarly journals Methane Source Attribution Challenges in the Surat Basin, Australia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinyi (Lexie) Lu ◽  
Stephen J. Harris ◽  
Rebecca E. Fisher ◽  
Dave Lowry ◽  
James L. France ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Management ◽  
Mole Fraction ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
Source Attribution ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Air Samples ◽  
Measurement Campaign ◽  
Airborne Measurement ◽  
Methane Source

<p>One of the case study sites for the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) Methane Science Studies is the coal seam gas (CSG) field in the Surat Basin, Queensland, Australia, where there are over 6000 CSG wells and associated gas and water processing infrastructure. Previous bottom-up estimates suggest that the major source of methane in the region is cattle, not CSG (Katestone, 2018, Luhar et al. 2018).</p><p>In September 2018, an airborne measurement campaign was undertaken to provide a top-down estimate of regional methane emissions. Modelling of the airborne methane mole fraction data has produced a defensible total methane emissions estimate. However, there are challenges with proportioning the top-down estimates provided by the airborne data, because of adjacent sources with similar d<sup>13</sup>C-CH<sub>4</sub> isotopic chemistry, rapid mixing of adjacent sources and substantial dilution of the plumes at the airborne measurement sampling height. We present how we will overcome these challenges.</p><p>At each gas production well, tens of thousands of litres of water are produced daily in association with the methane extracted from the coal measures. This water is stored in ponds and is also used as a water supply for cattle feedlots, which are located throughout and adjacent to the CSG wells and processing facilities. Power stations are also located within the CSG field. This arrangement makes it challenging to obtain clean top-down estimates of the emissions from CSG production. Quantifying methane emissions associated with CSG production is further complicated by numerous other sources of methane in the region immediately adjacent to the CSG field. These sources include grazing cattle, abattoirs, more power production facilities, coal mines, wetlands, natural gas seeps, and small urban centres with associated sewage treatment plants and landfills. Grab bag air samples were collected at each of these sources and analysed for d<sup>13</sup>C-CH<sub>4, </sub>d<sup>13</sup>C-CO<sub>2</sub> and dD-CH<sub>4</sub>.</p><p>The airborne measurement campaign was undertaken under warm daytime spring conditions. This caused rapid uplift and mixing of the methane plumes. The maximum difference between the lowest and highest methane mole fraction from 90 airborne collected grab bag air samples was only 0.03 ppm. Even at this low mole fraction, by implementing quality management protocols we were able to extract trends in the isotope data sets. This presentation will outline the quality management procedures and how the measurements of d<sup>13</sup>C-CH<sub>4, </sub>d<sup>13</sup>C-CO<sub>2</sub> and dD-CH<sub>4</sub> will be used to assist with methane source attribution.</p><p><strong>Reference</strong></p><p>Katestone Environmental Pty Ltd (2018) Surat Basin Methane Inventory 2015 - Summary Report. Prepared for CSIRO March 2017 (D15193-11).</p><p>Luhar, A., Etheridge, D., Loh, Z., Noonan, N., Spencer, D., Day, S. (2018). Characterisation of Regional Fluxes of Methane in the Surat Basin, Queensland. Final report on Task 3: Broad scale application of methane detection, and Task 4: Methane emissions enhanced modelling. Report to the Gas Industry Social and Environmental Research Alliance (GISERA). Report No. EP185211, October 2018. CSIRO Australia.</p>

scholarly journals Seasonal provenance changes in present-day Saharan dust collected in and off Mauritania

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (16) ◽  
pp. 10163-10193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen A. Friese ◽  
Johannes A. van Hateren ◽  
Christoph Vogt ◽  
Gerhard Fischer ◽  
Jan-Berend W. Stuut
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Saharan Dust ◽  
Local Source ◽  
Trade Wind ◽  
Back Trajectory ◽  
Dust Source ◽  
Western Sahara ◽  
Source Areas ◽  
Source Regions ◽  
Dust Sources

Abstract. Saharan dust has a crucial influence on the earth climate system and its emission, transport and deposition are intimately related to, e.g., wind speed, precipitation, temperature and vegetation cover. The alteration in the physical and chemical properties of Saharan dust due to environmental changes is often used to reconstruct the climate of the past. However, to better interpret possible climate changes the dust source regions need to be known. By analysing the mineralogical composition of transported or deposited dust, potential dust source areas can be inferred. Summer dust transport off northwest Africa occurs in the Saharan air layer (SAL). In continental dust source areas, dust is also transported in the SAL; however, the predominant dust input occurs from nearby dust sources with the low-level trade winds. Hence, the source regions and related mineralogical tracers differ with season and sampling location. To test this, dust collected in traps onshore and in oceanic sediment traps off Mauritania during 2013 to 2015 was analysed. Meteorological data, particle-size distributions, back-trajectory and mineralogical analyses were compared to derive the dust provenance and dispersal. For the onshore dust samples, the source regions varied according to the seasonal changes in trade-wind direction. Gibbsite and dolomite indicated a Western Saharan and local source during summer, while chlorite, serpentine and rutile indicated a source in Mauritania and Mali during winter. In contrast, for the samples that were collected offshore, dust sources varied according to the seasonal change in the dust transporting air layer. In summer, dust was transported in the SAL from Mauritania, Mali and Libya as indicated by ferroglaucophane and zeolite. In winter, dust was transported with the trades from Western Sahara as indicated by, e.g., fluellite.

Geology of possible Martian methane source regions

2011 ◽  
Vol 59 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 196-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
James J. Wray ◽  
Bethany L. Ehlmann
Keyword(s):  
Source Regions ◽  
Methane Source

scholarly journals Variation of CO<sub>2</sub> mole fraction in the lower free troposphere, in the boundary layer and at the surface

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 11539-11566 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Haszpra ◽  
M. Ramonet ◽  
M. Schmidt ◽  
Z. Barcza ◽  
Z. Pátkai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Mole Fraction ◽  
Seasonal Cycle ◽  
Marine Boundary Layer ◽  
Mixed Boundary ◽  
Monitoring Site ◽  
Vertical Profiles ◽  
Free Atmosphere ◽  
Seasonal Behavior ◽  
Tall Tower

Abstract. Eight years of occasional flask air sampling and 3 yr of frequent in situ measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) vertical profiles on board of a small aircraft, over a tall tower greenhouse gases monitoring site in Hungary are used for the analysis of the variations of vertical profile of CO2 mole fraction. Using the airborne vertical profiles and the measurements along the 115 m tall tower it is shown that the measurements at the top of the tower estimate the mean boundary layer CO2 mole fraction during the mid-afternoon fairly well, with an underestimation of 0.27–0.85 μmol mol−1 in summer, and an overestimation of 0.66–1.83 μmol mol−1 in winter. The seasonal cycle of CO2 mole fraction is damped with elevation. While the amplitude of the seasonal cycle is 28.5 μmol mol−1 at 10 m above the ground, it is only 10.7 μmol mol−1 in the layer of 2500–3000 m corresponding to the lower free atmosphere above the well-mixed boundary layer. The maximum mole fraction in the layer of 2500–3000 m can be observed around 25 March on average, two weeks ahead of that of the marine boundary layer reference (GLOBALVIEW). By contrast, close to the ground, the maximum CO2 mole fraction is observed late December, early January. The specific seasonal behavior is attributed to the climatology of vertical mixing of the atmosphere in the Carpathian Basin.

scholarly journals Biological proxies recorded in a Belukha ice core, Russian Altai

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 2589-2627
Author(s):  
T. Papina ◽  
T. Blyacharchyuk ◽  
A. Eichler ◽  
N. Malygina ◽  
E. Mitrofanova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
West Siberia ◽  
Biological Species ◽  
Water Bodies ◽  
Back Trajectory ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Source Regions ◽  
Daily Data ◽  
Taiga Forest ◽  
Russian Altai

Abstract. Different biological proxies such as pollen, cysts, and diatoms were identified and quantified in the upper part of a Belukha ice core from the Russian Altai. The ice core from the Belukha glacier collected in 2001 (4062 m a.s.l., 49°48' N, 86° 34' E) was analyzed with annual resolution in the period 1964–2000. We used daily data of the frequency of synoptic patterns observed in the Northern Hemisphere along with daily data of precipitation to identify the main modern sources of biological proxies deposited at the Belukha glacier. Our analyses revealed that main sources of diatoms in the Belukha ice core are water bodies of the Aral, Caspian, and North Kazakhstan basins. Coniferous trees pollen originated from the taiga forest of the boreal zone of West Siberia and pollen of hardwoods and herbs from steppe and forest steppe vegetation in the Northern Altai and East Kazakhstan. Cysts of algae and spores of inferior plants were transported from local water bodies and forests. The identified source regions of the biological species are supported by back trajectory analyses and are in good agreement with emission source regions of the trace species in the ice core.

scholarly journals Mercury and trace metal wet deposition across five stations in Alaska: controlling factors, spatial patterns, and source regions

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 6913-6929 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Pearson ◽  
Dean Howard ◽  
Christopher Moore ◽  
Daniel Obrist
Keyword(s):  
Trace Metal ◽  
Wet Deposition ◽  
The United States ◽  
Environmental Conservation ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Lower Latitude ◽  
Back Trajectory ◽  
Source Regions ◽  
Kodiak Island ◽  
Precipitation Regimes

Abstract. A total of 1360 weeks of mercury (Hg) wet deposition data were collected by the state of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. National Park Service across five stations spanning up to 8 years. Here, we analyze concentration patterns, source regions, and seasonal and annual Hg deposition loadings across these five sites in Alaska, along with auxiliary trace metals including Cr, Ni, As, and Pb. We found that Hg concentrations in precipitation at the two northernmost stations, Nome (64.5∘ N) along the coast of the Bering Sea and the inland site of Gates of the Arctic (66.9∘ N), were statistically higher (average of 5.3 and 5.5 ng L−1, respectively) than those at the two lowest-latitude sites, Kodiak Island (57.7∘ N, 2.7 ng L−1) and Glacier Bay (58.5∘ N, 2.6 ng L−1). These differences were largely explained by different precipitation regimes, with higher precipitation at the lower-latitude stations leading to dilution effects. The highest annual Hg deposition loads were consistently observed at Kodiak Island (4.80±1.04 µg m−2), while the lowest annual deposition was at Gates of the Arctic (2.11±0.67 µg m−2). Across all stations and collection years, annual precipitation strongly controlled annual Hg deposition, explaining 73 % of the variability in observed annual Hg deposition. The data further showed that annual Hg deposition loads across all five Alaska sites were consistently among the lowest in the United States, ranking in the lowest 1 % to 5 % of over 99 monitoring stations. Detailed back-trajectory analyses showed diffuse source regions for most Hg deposition sites suggesting largely global or regional Hg sources. One notable exception was Nome, where we found increased Hg contributions from the western Pacific Ocean downwind of East Asia. Analysis of other trace elements (As, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Se, Zn) from Dutch Harbor, Nome, and Kodiak Island showed generally higher trace metal concentrations at the northern station Nome compared to Kodiak Island further to the south, with concentrations at Dutch Harbor falling in between. Across all sites, we find two distinct groups of correlating elements: Cr and Ni and As and Pb. We attribute these associations to possibly different source origins, whereby sources of Ni and Cr may be derived from crustal (e.g., dust) sources while As and Pb may include long-range transport of anthropogenic pollution. Hg was not strongly associated with either of these two groups.

To what degree does land-atmosphere feedback exacerbate drought in South East Australia?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Holgate ◽  
Jason Evans ◽  
Albert Van Dijk ◽  
Andy Pitman
Keyword(s):  
High Temperatures ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Source Region ◽  
Back Trajectory ◽  
Atmospheric Moisture ◽  
Source Regions ◽  
Surface Control ◽  
Murray Darling Basin ◽  
Millennium Drought

&lt;p&gt;South East Australia is characterised by a diverse climate ranging from lush, temperate mountain ranges to hot and arid grasslands. The region is home to Australia's largest river system, the Murray-Darling. The Murray-Darling Basin is an important agricultural region, generating almost 50% of Australia's total irrigated agricultural production in 2018. Rainfall in this region is typically highly variable and subject to severe drought. The Millennium Drought (2001-2009), widely known as the worst drought on record and one of the most severe in the world, has now been superseded by a worse drought (2017-present), setting a new extreme in the drought record. During the current drought, rainfall, root zone soil moisture and water storages have reached record-breaking low levels. High temperatures have also broken historical records on multiple occasions since the drought began. Drought conditions and exceptionally high temperatures have dried the landscape, which has led to intense bushfires that have so far ravaged over 5 million hectares.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yet the degree to which the land surface exacerbates drought in the Murray-Darling Basin remains unknown. In other words, the relative importance of local versus remote processes affecting rainfall, particularly during drought, is uncertain. Where does the moisture come from, and how strongly do local land surface processes attenuate or amplify this atmospheric moisture to affect local rainfall? Establishing the evaporative source regions that supply moisture for rainfall can help reveal the mechanisms driving anomalously low rainfall. In the case of drought, it can help reveal whether anomalous rainfall was due to a reduction in source evaporation, anomalous atmospheric circulation (i.e., the moisture was generated but transported somewhere else), land surface control on the atmosphere through feedbacks, or a combination of factors.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We used a Lagrangian back-trajectory approach to determine the long-term average evaporative source regions that supply Australia's rainfall, and the level of recycling that rainfall undergoes. The back-trajectory model tracked water vapour from the location of rainfall events backward in time and space and identified the evaporative origin. From this, we calculated the proportion of rainfall falling across the Murray-Darling Basin that originated as evapotranspiration from the Basin itself; that is, the rainfall recycling ratio.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;By combining this long-term baseline of source region and rainfall recycling with anomalies of source region evaporation and local atmospheric boundary layer properties, we found that the drivers of low rainfall changed through time during the Millennium Drought. At the peak of the Drought the anomalously low rainfall was driven by a lack of atmospheric moisture advected from the identified typical source region; at other times the low rainfall was due to local conditions unfavorable for the precipitation of available moisture. Overall we found that land surface control on the atmosphere exacerbated the Millennium Drought by approximately 10%.&lt;/p&gt;

Identification of nitrogen dioxide and ozone source regions for an urban area in Korea using back trajectory analysis

2016 ◽  
Vol 176-177 ◽  
pp. 212-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kowsalya Vellingiri ◽  
Ki-Hyun Kim ◽  
Jong-Myoung Lim ◽  
Jin-Hong Lee ◽  
Chang-Jin Ma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nitrogen Dioxide ◽  
Urban Area ◽  
Trajectory Analysis ◽  
Back Trajectory ◽  
Back Trajectory Analysis ◽  
Source Regions

scholarly journals How well do tall-tower measurements characterize the CO<sub>2</sub> mole fraction distribution in the planetary boundary layer?

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 1657-1671 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Haszpra ◽  
Z. Barcza ◽  
T. Haszpra ◽  
Zs. Pátkai ◽  
K. J. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Vertical Distribution ◽  
Planetary Boundary Layer ◽  
Mole Fraction ◽  
Lower Troposphere ◽  
Co2 Flux ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Rural Site ◽  
Mole Fraction Profile ◽  
Tall Tower

Abstract. Planetary boundary layer (PBL) CO2 mole fraction data are needed by transport models and carbon budget models as both input and reference for validation. The height of in situ CO2 mole fraction measurements is usually different from that of the model levels where the data are needed; data from short towers, in particular, are difficult to utilize in atmospheric models that do not simulate the surface layer well. Tall-tower CO2 mole fraction measurements observed at heights ranging from 10 to 115 m above ground level at a rural site in Hungary and regular airborne vertical mole fraction profile measurements (136 vertical profiles) above the tower allowed us to estimate how well a tower of a given height could estimate the CO2 mole fraction above the tower in the PBL. The statistical evaluation of the height-dependent bias between the real PBL CO2 mole fraction profile (measured by the aircraft) and the measurement at a given elevation above the ground was performed separately for the summer and winter half years to take into account the different dynamics of the lower troposphere and the different surface CO2 flux in the different seasons. The paper presents (1) how accurately the vertical distribution of CO2 in the PBL can be estimated from the measurements on the top of a tower of height H; (2) how tall of a tower would be needed for the satisfaction of different requirements on the accuracy of the estimation of the CO2 vertical distribution; (3) how accurate of a CO2 vertical distribution estimation can be expected from the existing towers; and (4) how much improvement can be achieved in the accuracy of the estimation of CO2 vertical distribution by applying the virtual tall-tower concept.

scholarly journals Variation of CO<sub>2</sub> mole fraction in the lower free troposphere, in the boundary layer and at the surface

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 8865-8875 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Haszpra ◽  
M. Ramonet ◽  
M. Schmidt ◽  
Z. Barcza ◽  
Zs. Pátkai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Mole Fraction ◽  
Seasonal Cycle ◽  
Marine Boundary Layer ◽  
Mixed Boundary ◽  
Monitoring Site ◽  
Vertical Profiles ◽  
Free Atmosphere ◽  
Seasonal Behavior ◽  
Tall Tower

Abstract. Eight years of occasional flask air sampling and 3 years of frequent in situ measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) vertical profiles on board of a small aircraft, over a tall tower greenhouse gases monitoring site in Hungary are used for the analysis of the variations of vertical profile of CO2 mole fraction. Using the airborne vertical profiles and the measurements along the 115 m tall tower it is shown that the measurements at the top of the tower estimate the mean boundary layer CO2 mole fraction during the mid-afternoon fairly well, with an underestimation of 0.27–0.85 μmol mol−1 in summer, and an overestimation of 0.66–1.83 μmol mol−1 in winter. The seasonal cycle of CO2 mole fraction is damped with elevation. While the amplitude of the seasonal cycle is 28.5 μmol mol−1 at 10 m above the ground, it is only 10.7 μmol mol−1 in the layer of 2500–3000 m corresponding to the lower free atmosphere above the well-mixed boundary layer. The maximum mole fraction in the layer of 2500–3000 m can be observed around 25 March on average, two weeks ahead of that of the marine boundary layer reference (GLOBALVIEW). By contrast, close to the ground, the maximum CO2 mole fraction is observed late December, early January. The specific seasonal behavior is attributed to the climatology of vertical mixing of the atmosphere in the Carpathian Basin.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document