Comment on acp-2022-749
Abstract
Abstract. We quantify weekly methane emissions at 0.25°×0.3125° (≈25×25 km2) resolution from the Permian Basin, the largest oil production basin in the United States, by inverse analysis of satellite observations from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) from May 2018 to October 2020. The mean oil and gas emission from the region (± standard deviation of weekly estimates) was 3.7 ± 0.9 Tg a-1, higher than previous TROPOMI inversion estimates that may have used too-low prior emissions or biased background assumptions. We find strong week-to-week variability in emissions superimposed on longer-term trends, and these are consistent with independent inferences of temporal emission variability from tower, aircraft, and multispectral satellite data. New well development and local natural gas spot price were significant drivers of variability in emissions over our study period, but the concurrent 50 % increase in oil and gas production was not. The methane intensity (methane emitted per unit of methane gas produced) averaged 4.6 % ± 1.3 % and steadily decreased over the period from 5–6 % in 2018 to 3–4 % in 2020. While the decreasing trend suggests improvement in operator practices during the study period, methane emissions from the Permian Basin remained high, with methane intensity an order of magnitude above recent industry targets of <0.2 %. Our success in using TROPOMI satellite observations for weekly estimates of emissions from a major oil production basin shows promise for application to near-real-time monitoring in support of climate change mitigation efforts.
Authors 21
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Daniel J. Varon corresponding
Harvard University · GHGSat (Canada)
Affiliation as printed
GHGSat, Inc., Montréal, H2W 1Y5, Canada
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States
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Daniel J. Jacob corresponding
Affiliation as printed
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States
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Benjamin Hmiel corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Environmental Defense Fund, Washington DC, United States
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Ritesh Gautam corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Environmental Defense Fund, Washington DC, United States
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David Richard Lyon corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Environmental Defense Fund, Washington DC, United States
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Mark Omara corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Environmental Defense Fund, Washington DC, United States
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Melissa Payer Sulprizio corresponding
Affiliation as printed
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States
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Lu Hua Shen corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, China
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Drew C. Pendergrass corresponding
Affiliation as printed
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States
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Hannah O. Nesser corresponding
Affiliation as printed
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States
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Zhen Qu corresponding
Affiliation as printed
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States
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Zachary Robert Barkley corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, United States
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Natasha Lynn Miles corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, United States
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Scott James Richardson corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, United States
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Kenneth James Davis corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, United States
Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, United States
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Sudhanshu Pandey corresponding
Affiliation as printed
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States
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Xiao Hui Lu corresponding
Affiliation as printed
School of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China
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Space Research Organisation Netherlands
Affiliation as printed
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Space Research Organisation Netherlands
Affiliation as printed
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Space Research Organisation Netherlands
Affiliation as printed
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Space Research Organisation Netherlands
Affiliation as printed
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden, The Netherlands
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