scholarly journals Vista-LA: Mapping methane-emitting infrastructure in the Los Angeles megacity

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 653-676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Carranza ◽  
Talha Rafiq ◽  
Isis Frausto-Vicencio ◽  
Francesca M. Hopkins ◽  
Kristal R. Verhulst ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Complex Mixture ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Oak Ridge ◽  
Methane Source

Abstract. Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) and a critical target of climate mitigation efforts. However, actionable emission reduction efforts are complicated by large uncertainties in the methane budget on relevant scales. Here, we present Vista, a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based approach to map potential methane emissions sources in the South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB) that encompasses Los Angeles, an area with a dense, complex mixture of methane sources. The goal of this work is to provide a database that, together with atmospheric observations, improves methane emissions estimates in urban areas with complex infrastructure. We aggregated methane source location information into three sectors (energy, agriculture, and waste) following the frameworks used by the State of California GHG Inventory and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for GHG Reporting. Geospatial modeling was applied to publicly available datasets to precisely geolocate facilities and infrastructure comprising major anthropogenic methane source sectors. The final database, Vista-Los Angeles (Vista-LA), is presented as maps of infrastructure known or expected to emit CH4. Vista-LA contains over 33 000 features concentrated on  <  1 % of land area in the region. Currently, Vista-LA is used as a planning and analysis tool for atmospheric measurement surveys of methane sources, particularly for airborne remote sensing, and methane hotspot detection using regional observations. This study represents a first step towards developing an accurate, spatially resolved methane flux estimate for point sources in SoCAB, with the potential to address discrepancies between bottom–up and top–down methane emissions accounting in this region. The Vista-LA datasets and associated metadata are available from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center for Biogeochemical Dynamics (ORNL DAAC; https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1525).

scholarly journals Vista-LA: Mapping methane emitting infrastructure in the Los Angeles megacity

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Carranza ◽  
Talha Rafiq ◽  
Isis Frausto-Vicencio ◽  
Francesca Hopkins ◽  
Kristal R. Verhulst ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Hot Spot ◽  
Complex Mixture ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Oak Ridge ◽  
Methane Source

Abstract. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) and a critical target of climate mitigation efforts. However, actionable emission reduction efforts are complicated by large uncertainties in the methane budget at relevant scales. Here, we present Vista, a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based approach to map potential methane emissions sources in greater Los Angeles, an area with a dense, complex mixture of sources. The goal of this work is to provide a database that, together with atmospheric observations, improves methane emissions estimates in urban areas with complex infrastructure. We aggregated methane source location information into three sectors (energy, agriculture, and waste) following the frameworks used by the State of California GHG Inventory and the IPCC Guidelines for GHG Reporting. Geospatial modelling was applied to publicly available datasets to precisely geolocate facilities and infrastructure comprising major anthropogenic methane source sectors. The final database, Vista-Los Angeles (LA), is presented as maps of infrastructure known or expected to emit methane. Vista-LA contains over 33,000 features concentrated on <1% of land area in the region. Currently, Vista-LA is used as a planning and analysis tool for atmospheric measurement surveys of methane sources, particularly for airborne remote sensing, and methane “hot-spot” detection using regional observations. This study represents a first step towards developing an accurate, spatially-resolved methane flux estimate for point sources in California’s South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB), with the potential to address discrepancies between bottom-up and top-down methane emissions accounting. The final Vista-LA datasets and associated metadata have been submitted to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center for Biogeochemical Dynamics (ORNL DAAC; https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1525). 

Characteristics of urban street level methane emissions in Bucharest, Romania

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julianne Fernandez ◽  
James France ◽  
Malika Menoud ◽  
Hossein Maazallahi ◽  
Marius-Paul Corbu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Greenhouse Gases ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Measuring Instruments ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Gas Leaks

&lt;p&gt;Romania has a complex geological history resulting in a very hydrocarbon rich region that is heavily exploited and utilised. Romania&amp;#8217;s Fourth Biennial Report under the UNFCCC states that methane (CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;) emissions have decreased by 61% between 1989 and 2017, which is a result of decreases in fugitive fossil fuel and livestock emissions. Although there is a decreasing trend of CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; levels in most of Europe, we still see an overall increase in atmospheric CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; concentrations. As atmospheric CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; continues to increase and the mitigation of greenhouse gases becomes more of a concern, it is important to address CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; emissions from large cities.&amp;#160; Here we ask the question: What are the major sources of urban methane emissions in Romania&amp;#8217;s city capital, Bucharest? Together, street level continuous measurements of CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; and ethane (C&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;H&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt;), and &amp;#948;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C-CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; &amp; &amp;#948;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;H-CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; of high concentration plumes assist in the identification of emissions, both for major point sources and small leaks from the natural gas distribution system.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Urban focused surveys were conducted in Bucharest during August of 2019. Three continuously-measuring instruments were used, including an LGR Ultraportable CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;/C&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;H&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; analyzer, allowing for the separation of natural gas leaks from other source category emissions. CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; and C&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;H&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt; have been mapped to find locations of elevated mixing ratios above background. Air samples were collected from an inlet on the vehicle bumper (60 cm above ground) that is connected to a bag pump, filling 3L Flexfoil bags.&amp;#160; Samples were then analyzed for &amp;#948;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C-CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; &amp; &amp;#948;&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;H-CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; using an IsoPrime Trace Gas continuous flow gas chromatograph isotope ratio mass spectrometer (CF GC-IRMS) at Royal Holloway, University of London and a Thermo Fisher Delta Plus XP, at Utrecht University. Background baselines of CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; and isotopic ratios were statistically determined while traveling and distinguished from the various plumes of high concentrations. Point source signatures were then calculated using Keeling plot analysis. C&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;:C&lt;sub&gt;1&lt;/sub&gt; ratios from specific emissions types were compared with the correlated &amp;#948;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;C&lt;sub&gt;CH4&lt;/sub&gt; values.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Detailed urban methane mapping and the use of high precision isotopic source signature measurements provide an efficient approach to identifying and sourcing small gas leaks in urban cities. These results will be useful in future government regulation of greenhouse gas emissions in urban areas as the EU continues to work on the reduction of greenhouse gases.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals In-situ air temperature and humidity measurements over diverse landcovers in Greenbelt, MD Nov. 2013–Nov. 2015

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark L. Carroll ◽  
Molly E. Brown ◽  
Margaret R. Wooten ◽  
Joel E. Donham ◽  
Alfred B. Hubbard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Building Roof ◽  
Oak Ridge ◽  
Average Value ◽  
Temperature And Humidity ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Major Surface

Abstract. As our climate changes through time there is an ever increasing need to quantify how and where it is changing so that mitigation strategies can be implemented. Urban areas have a disproportionate amount of warming due, in part, to the conductive properties of concrete and asphalt surfaces that make up an urban environment. The NASA Climate Adaptation Science Investigation working group at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt MD conducted a study to collect temperature and humidity data at 15 minute intervals from 12 sites on center. These sites represented the major surface types on center: asphalt, building roof, grass field, forest, and rain garden. The data show a strong distinction in the thermal properties of these surfaces on the center and the difference between the average value for the center compared to a local meteorological station. The data have been submitted to Oak Ridge National Laboratory Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL-DAAC) for archival in comma separated value (csv) file format http://daac.ornl.gov/cgi-bin/dsviewer.pl?ds_id=1319.

A multi-tiered methane analytic framework for constraining budgets, point source attribution, and anomalous event detection

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Cusworth ◽  
Riley Duren ◽  
Andrew Thorpe ◽  
Natasha Stavros ◽  
Brian Bue ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Point Source ◽  
Methane Flux ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Analytic Framework ◽  
Source Attribution ◽  
Surface Measurements ◽  
New Generation

&lt;p&gt;Methane emissions monitoring is rapidly expanding with increasing coverage of surface, airborne, and satellite instruments. However, no single methane instrument or observing strategy can both close emission budgets and pinpoint point sources on regional to global scales. Instead, we present a multi-tiered data analytics system that synthesizes information across various instruments into a single analytic framework. We highlight an example in Los Angeles, where we combine surface measurements from the Los Angeles megacities project, mountaintop measurements from the CLARS-FTS instrument, airborne AVIRIS-NG point source emission estimates, and TROPOMI total column retrievals into a single analytic framework. Surface, mountaintop, and satellite measurements are assimilated into a methane flux inverse model to constrain basin-wide emissions and pinpoint sub-basin methane hotspots. We show an example of a large urban landfill, whose anomalous emissions were detected by the inverse system, and validated using AVIRIS-NG methane plume maps. This general approach of quantifying both methane area and point source emissions is an avenue not just for closing regional to global scale budgets, but also for understanding which emission sources dominate the budget (i.e., so called methane super-emitters). We finally show how this multi-tiered analytic framework can be improved with future satellite missions, and present examples of unexpectedly large methane emissions that were detected by a new generation of satellite imaging spectrometers.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Estimating global and North American methane emissions with high spatial resolution using GOSAT satellite data

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 7049-7069 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Turner ◽  
D. J. Jacob ◽  
K. J. Wecht ◽  
J. D. Maasakkers ◽  
E. Lundgren ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
North American ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Central Valley ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Atmospheric Methane ◽  
Chemical Transport Model ◽  
Error Characterization ◽  
Methane Source

Abstract. We use 2009–2011 space-borne methane observations from the Greenhouse Gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) to estimate global and North American methane emissions with 4° × 5° and up to 50 km × 50 km spatial resolution, respectively. GEOS-Chem and GOSAT data are first evaluated with atmospheric methane observations from surface and tower networks (NOAA/ESRL, TCCON) and aircraft (NOAA/ESRL, HIPPO), using the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model as a platform to facilitate comparison of GOSAT with in situ data. This identifies a high-latitude bias between the GOSAT data and GEOS-Chem that we correct via quadratic regression. Our global adjoint-based inversion yields a total methane source of 539 Tg a−1 with some important regional corrections to the EDGARv4.2 inventory used as a prior. Results serve as dynamic boundary conditions for an analytical inversion of North American methane emissions using radial basis functions to achieve high resolution of large sources and provide error characterization. We infer a US anthropogenic methane source of 40.2–42.7 Tg a−1, as compared to 24.9–27.0 Tg a−1 in the EDGAR and EPA bottom-up inventories, and 30.0–44.5 Tg a−1 in recent inverse studies. Our estimate is supported by independent surface and aircraft data and by previous inverse studies for California. We find that the emissions are highest in the southern–central US, the Central Valley of California, and Florida wetlands; large isolated point sources such as the US Four Corners also contribute. Using prior information on source locations, we attribute 29–44 % of US anthropogenic methane emissions to livestock, 22–31 % to oil/gas, 20 % to landfills/wastewater, and 11–15 % to coal. Wetlands contribute an additional 9.0–10.1 Tg a−1.

scholarly journals WORLD SPATIOTEMPORAL ANALYTICS AND MAPPING PROJECT (WSTAMP): DISCOVERING, EXPLORING, AND MAPPING SPATIOTEMPORAL PATTERNS ACROSS THE WORLD’S LARGEST OPEN SORUCE DATA SETS

2015 ◽  
Vol II-4/W2 ◽  
pp. 95-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Stewart ◽  
J. Piburn ◽  
A. Sorokine ◽  
A. Myers ◽  
J. Moehl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Model ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Significant Advance ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Oak Ridge ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Status ◽  
Visualization Techniques

The application of spatiotemporal (ST) analytics to integrated data from major sources such as the World Bank, United Nations, and dozens of others holds tremendous potential for shedding new light on the evolution of cultural, health, economic, and geopolitical landscapes on a global level. Realizing this potential first requires an ST data model that addresses challenges in properly merging data from multiple authors, with evolving ontological perspectives, semantical differences, and changing attributes, as well as content that is textual, numeric, categorical, and hierarchical. Equally challenging is the development of analytical and visualization approaches that provide a serious exploration of this integrated data while remaining accessible to practitioners with varied backgrounds. The WSTAMP project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has yielded two major results in addressing these challenges: 1) development of the WSTAMP database, a significant advance in ST data modeling that integrates 10,000+ attributes covering over 200 nation states spanning over 50 years from over 30 major sources and 2) a novel online ST exploratory and analysis tool providing an array of modern statistical and visualization techniques for analyzing these data temporally, spatially, and spatiotemporally under a standard analytic workflow. We discuss the status of this work and report on major findings.

scholarly journals SYNOPTIC OBSERVATIONS OF SAND MOVEMENT

1970 ◽  
Vol 1 (12) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
David B. Duane
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Transport ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Surf Zone ◽  
Atomic Energy Commission ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Breaking Waves ◽  
Army Corps ◽  
Corps Of Engineers ◽  
Oak Ridge ◽  
Synoptic Observations

The U S Army Corps of Engineers' Coastal Engineering Research Center, in cooperation with the Atomic Energy Commission, initiated a multi-agency program to create a viable radioisotopic sand tracing (RIST) program Other agency participants in this program have been the Los Angeles District, Corps of Engineers, U S Air Force (First Strategic Aerospace Division), U S Navy (Pacific Missile Range), U S Army Mobility Equipment Command, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the State of California (Dept of Navigation and Ocean Development) CERC, together with the AEC's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed tagging procedures, hardware development, field surveys and data handling techniques that permit collection and analysis of over 12,000 bits of information per hour over a survey track of approximately 18,000 feet Data obtained with the RIST system can be considered as nearly synoptic observations of sediment transport m a single environmental zone or in adjacent beach, surf and offshore zones Using sand tagged with isotopes of gold, experiments have been carried out at several sites on the California coast Surf, Point Conception area, Point Mugu, and Oceanside Data from the studies carried out in beach areas unmodified by littoral barriers indicate that under a given set of wave conditions the alongshore velocity of sediment transport differs from zone to zone such that transport seaward of peakmg-breaking waves < transport on the beach face < transport in the plunge and surf zone Because of these differences, tracing surveys confined solely to the foreshore or offshore zones produce data only partially indicative of transport in the zone of immediate concern to coastal engineers.

scholarly journals Trace-based performance analysis for the petascale simulation code FLASH

2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 428-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heike Jagode ◽  
Andreas Knüpfer ◽  
Jack Dongarra ◽  
Matthias Jurenz ◽  
Matthias S Müller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Performance Analysis ◽  
Fundamental System ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Simulation Code ◽  
Oak Ridge ◽  
Application Behavior ◽  
System Properties ◽  
Performance Analysis Tools ◽  
Very High

Performance analysis of applications on modern high-end petascale systems is increasingly challenging due to the rising complexity and quantity of the computing units. This paper presents a performance-analysis study using the Vampir performance-analysis tool suite, which examines application behavior as well as the fundamental system properties. This study was carried out on the Jaguar system at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the fastest computer on the November 2009 Top500 list. We analyzed the FLASH simulation code that is designed to be scaled with tens of thousands of CPU cores, which means that using existing performance-analysis tools is very complex. The study reveals two classes of performance problems that are relevant for very high CPU counts: MPI communication and scalable I/O. For both, solutions are presented and verified. Finally, the paper proposes improvements and extensions for event tracing tools in order to allow scalability of the tools towards higher degrees of parallelism.

scholarly journals Evaluating China’s Passenger Vehicle Market under the Vehicle Policies of 2021–2023

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Shiqi Ou ◽  
Rujie Yu ◽  
Zhenhong Lin ◽  
Xin He ◽  
Jessey Bouchard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Dual Credit ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Credit Policy ◽  
Oak Ridge ◽  
New Energy ◽  
Hybrid Electric ◽  
The Government

China is well known for its determination on large-scale vehicle electrification, which currently is mainly driven by fuel economy and electric vehicle policies mixed with the extensive charging infrastructure support and monetary incentives from the government. This study adopted the New Energy and Oil Consumption Credits (NEOCC) model 2020 version, a vehicle policy analysis tool developed by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in order to systematically quantify the potential impacts of the “Passenger Cars Corporate Average Fuel Consumption and New Energy Vehicle Credit Regulation”, which is a revised version released in June 2020 for the timeframe 2021–2023, the so-called dual credit policy (2021–2023). It was found that, under the dual credit policy (2021–2023), the sales of hybrid electric vehicles could reach 0.91 million by the end of 2023, which would increase much faster than they did in 2018–2020. The annual sales share of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) could reach 11.7%, and the PEV stocks could achieve 11.70 million by the end of 2023 if it keeps the expansion to the level of how it was in 2017. In addition, the BEVs with long electric range (such as 400 km) and the plug-in hybrid electric SUVs could be the most popular PEV types.

scholarly journals Urban Energy Systems: Research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

2021 ◽  
pp. 281-308
Author(s):  
Budhendra Bhaduri ◽  
Ryan McManamay ◽  
Olufemi Omitaomu ◽  
Jibo Sanyal ◽  
Amy Rose
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Human Dimensions ◽  
Critical Infrastructures ◽  
Laboratory System ◽  
Sustainable Mobility ◽  
Oak Ridge ◽  
Oak Ridge National Laboratory ◽  
Urban Energy

AbstractIn the coming decades, our planet will witness unprecedented urban population growth in both established and emerging communities. The development and maintenance of urban infrastructures are highly energy-intensive. Urban areas are dictated by complex intersections among physical, engineered, and human dimensions that have significant implications for traffic congestion, emissions, and energy usage. In this chapter, we highlight recent research and development efforts at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), the largest multipurpose science laboratory within the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) national laboratory system, that characterizes the interactions between the human dynamics and critical infrastructures in conjunction with the integration of four distinct components: data, critical infrastructure models, and scalable computation and visualization, all within the context of physical and social systems. Discussions focus on four key topical themes: population and land use, sustainable mobility, the energy-water nexus, and urban resiliency, that are mutually aligned with DOE’s mission and ORNL’s signature science and technology capabilities. Using scalable computing, data visualization, and unique datasets from a variety of sources, the institute fosters innovative interdisciplinary research that integrates ORNL expertise in critical infrastructures including energy, water, transportation, and cyber, and their interactions with the human population.

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