Ground level volume mixing ratio of methane in a tropical coastal city

Thomas, George; Zachariah, E. J.

doi:10.1007/s10661-011-2084-9

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…It was seen in this study that the vertical profile of CH 4 concentration within the urban canopy layer was neutral during stable pre-dawn conditions. It is also observed that the spatial distribution of the ambient methane exhibits sensitivity to urban environment [23]. Urban influences in the atmospheric concentration of other trace gases have also been detected.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Atmospheric Methane Mixing Ratio in a South Indian Coastal City Interlaced by Wetlands

Thomas

Sherin

Zachariah

2014

Procedia Environmental Sciences

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Industrialisation and urbanization leads to an increase in concentration of greenhouse gases, which eventually alters the radiation balance of the climate system. Urban regions are hotspots of greenhouse gas emissions which include CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 O, etc. Methane emitting sources hosted by cities include fossil fuel combustion, municipal waste and sewage management, blocked drains and pools etc. Waste discharges from the residences, food wastes, market places etc., contribute to the methane production. Urban heat island causing warm nights in the city is also a suitable condition for the generation of methane.Ground level mixing ratio of methane in the tropical coastal city of Cochin in South India, during calm early morning periods was measured in this study. A mobile traverse method was employed from January 2011 to March 2013. Measurements were taken during both winter and summer seasons. It was observed that the ground level methane concentrations were significantly higher than the global average value. Intra-city variation in ground level mixing ratio was also significant. The maximum value of ground level methane in winter and summer were 3.85 ppm and 3.21 ppm respectively. The study reveals that the city acts as a source of atmospheric methane.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Atmospheric Methane Mixing Ratio in a South Indian Coastal City Interlaced by Wetlands

Thomas

Sherin

Zachariah

2014

Procedia Environmental Sciences

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“…The spatial variations in atmospheric CH 4 concentration result from the activities performed at the study sites (Sahay and Ghosh, 2013; Majumdar et al, 2017; Thomas and Zachariah, 2012). Possible sources of CH 4 in the city of Tandil are the sanitary landfill, the sewage treatment plant, the urban lake, vehicular transport, pipeline distribution, and NG consumption.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Once we excluded both the effect of biogenic sources and the accumulation of atmospheric CH 4 by thermal inversion, the rapid increase in the atmospheric CH 4 concentration in fall and winter might be related to diffuse and nonbiogenic sources, such as vehicular transport, NG distribution, and NG consumption, as it was observed in other cities (Thomas and Zachariah, 2012; Phillips et al, 2013; Chamberlain et al, 2016; Sanchez et al, 2018).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…-------mg m −3 -------% S1 U Once we excluded both the effect of biogenic sources and the accumulation of atmospheric CH 4 by thermal inversion, the rapid increase in the atmospheric CH 4 concentration in fall and winter might be related to diffuse and nonbiogenic sources, such as vehicular transport, NG distribution, and NG consumption, as it was observed in other cities (Thomas and Zachariah, 2012;Phillips et al, 2013;Chamberlain et al, 2016;Sanchez et al, 2018). Figure 3 shows the temporal variation of NG consumption in cubic meters of NG ´ 10 −6 for the residential, the industrial, the CNG, and the commercial and public service sectors for the city of Tandil during the total study period.…”

Section: Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

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Atmospheric Methane Concentration Allows Estimating Natural Gas Leaks in Heating Systems in Tandil, Argentina

et al. 2019

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Residential use of natural gas (NG) for heating and cooking purposes may contribute significantly to CH4 emissions to the atmosphere. To analyze whether the NG demand in the city of Tandil, Argentina, contributes to the increase in atmospheric CH4 concentration, we conducted systematic collections of time‐integrated air samples for a year in six city sites with different population and built‐up density. Some meteorological parameters and NG consumption were registered. Atmospheric CH4 concentration ranged from 1.12 to 1.95 mg m−3 (1.72 to 2.84 ppm) with significant seasonal and spatial variations. In all the sites, with the exception of a peri‐urban site bordering rural areas, the maximum CH4 concentrations were measured during the coldest months, with a statistically significant correlation between residential and commercial NG consumption with respect to air temperature (p < 0.001, R = −0.84 to −0.69) and atmospheric CH4 concentration (p < 0.05, R = 0.58 to 0.94). In Argentina, the most popular home heating system is the balanced‐draft heater, which has a thermal efficiency of 39 to 63%. This low efficiency allows us to attribute the highest atmospheric CH4 concentration found during the coldest months mainly to the leaks of the heating systems and the greater residential use of NG. Repairing the gas leaks by increasing thermal efficiency or replacing heating systems with more efficient ones will bring economic, environmental, and health benefits. This study is important for our country where the dependence on the use of NG from heating systems is significant. Core Ideas We studied atmospheric CH4 concentration in an urban area at a southern mid‐latitude. We observed spatial and seasonal variations in atmospheric CH4 concentration. The highest atmospheric CH4 concentrations were measured during the coldest months. Methane concentration and residential natural gas consumption were well correlated. Low‐efficiency heating systems cause an increase in CH4 concentrations.

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“…Future changes in surface temperatures and precipitation have the potential to dramatically alter natural methane fluxes from large Arctic reservoirs (Damm et al, 2010;Kort et al, 2012) and tropical wetlands (Dlugokencky et al, 2009), while transformational changes in anthropogenic emissions from fossil fuel production threaten to further increase atmospheric methane abundance (Larsen et al, 2015). Examples of anthropogenic sources of methane include the natural gas and oil supply chains (production, storage, transmission, distribution, consumption), agricultural activities (enteric fermentation, manure management, rice cultivation), landfills, coal mining, stationary and mobile combustion, and wastewater treatment (Thomas and Zachariah, 2012). This work focuses on anthropogenic point source emitters rather than more diffuse area sources, given that the former are Figure 6.…”

Section: Anthropogenic Methanementioning

confidence: 99%

High spatial resolution imaging of methane and other trace gases with the airborne Hyperspectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (HyTES)

et al. 2016

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Abstract. Currently large uncertainties exist associated with the attribution and quantification of fugitive emissions of criteria pollutants and greenhouse gases such as methane across large regions and key economic sectors. In this study, data from the airborne Hyperspectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (HyTES) have been used to develop robust and reliable techniques for the detection and wide-area mapping of emission plumes of methane and other atmospheric trace gas species over challenging and diverse environmental conditions with high spatial resolution that permits direct attribution to sources. HyTES is a pushbroom imaging spectrometer with high spectral resolution (256 bands from 7.5 to 12 µm), wide swath (1-2 km), and high spatial resolution (∼ 2 m at 1 km altitude) that incorporates new thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing technologies. In this study we introduce a hybrid clutter matched filter (CMF) and plume dilation algorithm applied to HyTES observations to efficiently detect and characterize the spatial structures of individual plumes of CH 4 , H 2 S, NH 3 , NO 2 , and SO 2 emitters. The sensitivity and field of regard of HyTES allows rapid and frequent airborne surveys of large areas including facilities not readily accessible from the surface. The HyTES CMF algorithm produces plume intensity images of methane and other gases from strong emission sources. The combination of high spatial resolution and multi-species imaging capability provides source attribution in complex environments. The CMF-based detection of strong emission sources over large areas is a fast and powerful tool needed to focus on more computationally intensive retrieval algorithms to quantify emissions with error estimates, and is useful for expediting mitigation efforts and addressing critical science questions.

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Ground level volume mixing ratio of methane in a tropical coastal city

Cited by 9 publications

References 11 publications

Atmospheric Methane Mixing Ratio in a South Indian Coastal City Interlaced by Wetlands

Atmospheric Methane Mixing Ratio in a South Indian Coastal City Interlaced by Wetlands

Atmospheric Methane Concentration Allows Estimating Natural Gas Leaks in Heating Systems in Tandil, Argentina

High spatial resolution imaging of methane and other trace gases with the airborne Hyperspectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (HyTES)

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