Emissions of Methane from Coal, Thermal power plants and Wetlands and its implications on Atmospheric Methane across the South Asian Region

Abstract

Abstract. Atmospheric methane (CH4) is a potent climate change agent responsible for a fraction of global warming. The present study investigated the spatial and temporal variability of atmospheric column-averaged (X) CH4 (XCH4) concentrations using Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) and TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument onboard the Sentienl-5 Precursor (S5P/TROPOMI) data from 2009 to 2022 over the South Asia region. During the study period, the long-term trends in XCH4 increased from 1700 ppb to 1950 ppb with an annual growth rate of 8.76 ppb year-1. Among all natural and anthropogenic sources of CH4, the rate of increase in XCH4 was higher over the Mundra thermal power station and Mundra ultra mega power plant at about 9.62 ppb year-1, followed by the coal site at about 8.76 ppb year-1 (Korba). With a growth rate of 8.61 ppb year-1, the Sundarbans natural wetland competes with coal sites, producing over 30 MT, indicating an equivalent anthropogenic source. For the 15 Indian Agroclimatic zones, significant high emissions of CH4 were observed over the Middle Gangetic Plains (MGP), Trans Gangetic Plains (TGP), Upper Gangetic Plains (UGP), East Coast Plains & Hills (ECPH), Lower Gangetic Plains (LGP) and East Gangetic Plains (EGP). Further, the bottom-up anthropogenic CH4 emissions data are mapped against the XCH4 concentrations and found high correlation in the Indo Gangetic Plains (IGP) region, indicating the hotspots of anthropogenic CH4. The present study highlighted the impact of natural and anthropogenic sources of XCH4 and quantified the spatio-temporal changes in XCH4 at each study site over the Indian region.