Methane source apportionment in the Los Angeles basin using airborne imaging spectroscopy and a geospatial infrastructure dataset
Abstract
On a molecular basis, methane (CH4) has a radiative forcing potential far higher than carbon dioxide. In the state of California, CH4 emitting infrastructure has shown to significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Combined with airborne atmospheric observations, this study hopes to improve CH4 emissions estimates in dense areas with complex infrastructure. Airborne campaigns using the next-generation Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS-NG) measured CH4 plumes at a spatial resolution of between 1 and 3m spatial resolution. AVIRIS-NG detected close to 800 individual CH4 plumes across the Los Angeles Basin as part of the 2016 - 2017 California Baseline Methane Survey. Observed sources include gas storage facilities, hydrocarbon storage tanks, landfills, and pipeline leaks. Vista-LA is a geospatial database of over 30,000 validated potential methane emitting infrastructures based on the framework established by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (Carranza et al. 2018). In this study, we allocate individual CH4 point sources identified by AVIRIS-NG to Vista-LA CH4 infrastructures for source identification and assessment. This work demonstrates the capabilities of the Vista-LA CH4 database for source apportionment analysis and the investigation of IPCC sectoral emission trends. AVIRIS-NG airborne CH4 retrievals combined with the geospatial capabilities of Vista-LA permit locating and identifying point sources to improve sectoral source attribution and mitigation efforts. Vista-LA is currently being expanded to include the state of California, permitting an extension of this analysis beyond the Los Angeles Basin.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFM.A43R3456R
- Keywords:
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- 0345 Pollution: urban and regional;
- ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTUREDE: 3394 Instruments and techniques;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSESDE: 0428 Carbon cycling;
- BIOGEOSCIENCESDE: 0478 Pollution: urban;
- regional and global;
- BIOGEOSCIENCES