Methane Emissions from Landfills in the Southeastern U.S. and a Comparison with Inventories

Methane is the second most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas emitted to the atmosphere. Landfills account for 16% of US anthropogenic methane emissions in the 2017 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) greenhouse gas inventory. However, uncertainties in the emission rates remain due to the large spatial extent of the emissions, which make them difficult to quantify using traditional methods. We present airborne methane data to quantify emissions from landfills in the southeastern United States. Our top-down emission estimates are then compared to the EPA greenhouse gas inventory when possible, and to a gridded emission inventory based on the 2016 EPA greenhouse gas inventory.