Articles | Volume 17, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-4555-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-4555-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Aerial estimates of methane and carbon dioxide emission rates using a mass balance approach in New York State
Alexandra M. Catena
Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA
Mackenzie L. Smith
Scientific Aviation, Inc. (Now Champion X), Boulder, CO, USA
Lee T. Murray
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA
Eric M. Leibensperger
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY, USA
Jie Zhang
Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA
Margaret J. Schwab
Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA
Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA
Related authors
Jie Zhang, Tianyu Zhu, Alexandra Catena, Yaowei Li, Margaret J. Schwab, Pengfei Liu, Akua Asa-Awuku, and James Schwab
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13445–13456, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13445-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13445-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study shows the derived organic aerosol hygroscopicity under high-humidity conditions based on a simple optical scatter monitor system, including two nephelometric monitors (pDR-1500), when the aerosol chemical composition is already known.
William J. Collins, Fiona M. O'Connor, Rachael E. Byrom, Øivind Hodnebrog, Patrick Jöckel, Mariano Mertens, Gunnar Myhre, Matthias Nützel, Dirk Olivié, Ragnhild Bieltvedt Skeie, Laura Stecher, Larry W. Horowitz, Vaishali Naik, Gregory Faluvegi, Ulas Im, Lee T. Murray, Drew Shindell, Kostas Tsigaridis, Nathan Luke Abraham, and James Keeble
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 9031–9060, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-9031-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-9031-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We used 7 climate models that include atmospheric chemistry and find that in a scenario with weak controls on air quality, the warming effects (over 2015 to 2050) of decreases in ozone-depleting substances and increases in air quality pollutants are approximately equal and would make ozone the second highest contributor to warming over this period. We find that for stratospheric ozone recovery, the standard measure of climate effects underestimates a more comprehensive measure.
Paul T. Griffiths, Laura J. Wilcox, Robert J. Allen, Vaishali Naik, Fiona M. O'Connor, Michael Prather, Alex Archibald, Florence Brown, Makoto Deushi, William Collins, Stephanie Fiedler, Naga Oshima, Lee T. Murray, Bjørn H. Samset, Chris Smith, Steven Turnock, Duncan Watson-Parris, and Paul J. Young
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 8289–8328, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8289-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8289-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The Aerosol Chemistry Model Intercomparison Project (AerChemMIP) aimed to quantify the climate and air quality impacts of aerosols and chemically reactive gases. We review its contribution to AR6 (Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and the wider understanding of the role of these species in climate and climate change. We identify challenges and provide recommendations to improve the utility and uptake of climate model data, detailed summary tables of CMIP6 models, experiments, and emergent diagnostics.
Hossein Maazallahi, Foteini Stavropoulou, Samuel Jonson Sutanto, Michael Steiner, Dominik Brunner, Mariano Mertens, Patrick Jöckel, Antoon Visschedijk, Hugo Denier van der Gon, Stijn Dellaert, Nataly Velandia Salinas, Stefan Schwietzke, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Sorin Ghemulet, Alexandru Pana, Magdalena Ardelean, Marius Corbu, Andreea Calcan, Stephen A. Conley, Mackenzie L. Smith, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1497–1511, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1497-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1497-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This article presents insights from airborne in situ measurements collected during the ROmanian Methane Emissions from Oil and gas (ROMEO) campaign supported by two models. Results reveal Romania's oil and gas methane emissions were significantly under-reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2019. A large underestimation was also found in the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) v7.0 for the study domain in the same year.
Jie Zhang, Tianyu Zhu, Alexandra Catena, Yaowei Li, Margaret J. Schwab, Pengfei Liu, Akua Asa-Awuku, and James Schwab
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13445–13456, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13445-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13445-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study shows the derived organic aerosol hygroscopicity under high-humidity conditions based on a simple optical scatter monitor system, including two nephelometric monitors (pDR-1500), when the aerosol chemical composition is already known.
Benjamin Hmiel, Vasilii V. Petrenko, Christo Buizert, Andrew M. Smith, Michael N. Dyonisius, Philip Place, Bin Yang, Quan Hua, Ross Beaudette, Jeffrey P. Severinghaus, Christina Harth, Ray F. Weiss, Lindsey Davidge, Melisa Diaz, Matthew Pacicco, James A. Menking, Michael Kalk, Xavier Faïn, Alden Adolph, Isaac Vimont, and Lee T. Murray
The Cryosphere, 18, 3363–3382, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3363-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3363-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The main aim of this research is to improve understanding of carbon-14 that is produced by cosmic rays in ice sheets. Measurements of carbon-14 in ice cores can provide a range of useful information (age of ice, past atmospheric chemistry, past cosmic ray intensity). Our results show that almost all (>99 %) of carbon-14 that is produced in the upper layer of ice sheets is rapidly lost to the atmosphere. Our results also provide better estimates of carbon-14 production rates in deeper ice.
Claire Bekker, Wendell W. Walters, Lee T. Murray, and Meredith G. Hastings
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4185–4201, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4185-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4185-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Nitrate is a critical component of the atmosphere that degrades air quality and ecosystem health. We have investigated the nitrogen isotope compositions of nitrate from deposition samples collected across the northeastern United States. Spatiotemporal variability in the nitrogen isotope compositions was found to track with nitrate formation chemistry. Our results highlight that nitrogen isotope compositions may be a robust tool for improving model representation of nitrate chemistry.
Heejeong Kim, Wendell W. Walters, Claire Bekker, Lee T. Murray, and Meredith G. Hastings
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4203–4219, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4203-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4203-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric nitrate has an important impact on human and ecosystem health. We evaluated atmospheric nitrate formation pathways in the northeastern US utilizing oxygen isotope compositions, which indicated a significant difference between the phases of nitrate (i.e., gas vs. particle). Comparing the observations with model simulations indicated that N2O5 hydrolysis chemistry was overpredicted. Our study has important implications for improving atmospheric chemistry model representation.
Róisín Commane, Andrew Hallward-Driemeier, and Lee T. Murray
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1431–1441, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1431-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1431-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Methane / ethane ratios can be used to identify and partition the different sources of methane, especially in areas with natural gas mixed with biogenic methane emissions, such as cities. We tested three commercially available laser-based analyzers for sensitivity, precision, size, power requirement, ease of use on mobile platforms, and expertise needed to operate the instrument, and we make recommendations for use in various situations.
Christopher E. Lawrence, Paul Casson, Richard Brandt, James J. Schwab, James E. Dukett, Phil Snyder, Elizabeth Yerger, Daniel Kelting, Trevor C. VandenBoer, and Sara Lance
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1619–1639, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1619-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1619-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric aqueous chemistry can have profound effects on our environment, as illustrated by historical data from Whiteface Mountain (WFM) that were critical for uncovering the process of acid rain. The current study updates the long-term trends in cloud water composition at WFM for the period 1994 to 2021. We highlight the emergence of a new chemical regime at WFM dominated by organics and ammonium, quite different from the highly acidic regime observed in the past but not necessarily
clean.
Hao Guo, Clare M. Flynn, Michael J. Prather, Sarah A. Strode, Stephen D. Steenrod, Louisa Emmons, Forrest Lacey, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Arlene M. Fiore, Gus Correa, Lee T. Murray, Glenn M. Wolfe, Jason M. St. Clair, Michelle Kim, John Crounse, Glenn Diskin, Joshua DiGangi, Bruce C. Daube, Roisin Commane, Kathryn McKain, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Chelsea Thompson, Thomas F. Hanisco, Donald Blake, Nicola J. Blake, Eric C. Apel, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, James W. Elkins, Eric J. Hintsa, Fred L. Moore, and Steven C. Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 99–117, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-99-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-99-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We have prepared a unique and unusual result from the recent ATom aircraft mission: a measurement-based derivation of the production and loss rates of ozone and methane over the ocean basins. These are the key products of chemistry models used in assessments but have thus far lacked observational metrics. It also shows the scales of variability of atmospheric chemical rates and provides a major challenge to the atmospheric models.
Broghan M. Erland, Cristen Adams, Andrea Darlington, Mackenzie L. Smith, Andrew K. Thorpe, Gregory R. Wentworth, Steve Conley, John Liggio, Shao-Meng Li, Charles E. Miller, and John A. Gamon
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5841–5859, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5841-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5841-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Accurately estimating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is essential to reaching net-zero goals to combat the climate crisis. Airborne box-flights are ideal for assessing regional GHG emissions, as they can attain small error. We compare two box-flight algorithms and found they produce similar results, but daily variability must be considered when deriving emissions inventories. Increasing the consistency and agreement between airborne methods moves us closer to achieving more accurate estimates.
Amy Foulds, Grant Allen, Jacob T. Shaw, Prudence Bateson, Patrick A. Barker, Langwen Huang, Joseph R. Pitt, James D. Lee, Shona E. Wilde, Pamela Dominutti, Ruth M. Purvis, David Lowry, James L. France, Rebecca E. Fisher, Alina Fiehn, Magdalena Pühl, Stéphane J. B. Bauguitte, Stephen A. Conley, Mackenzie L. Smith, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Ignacio Pisso, and Stefan Schwietzke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 4303–4322, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4303-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4303-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We measured CH4 emissions from 21 offshore oil and gas facilities in the Norwegian Sea in 2019. Measurements compared well with operator-reported emissions but were greatly underestimated when compared with a 2016 global fossil fuel inventory. This study demonstrates the need for up-to-date and accurate inventories for use in research and policy and the important benefits of best-practice reporting methods by operators. Airborne measurements are an effective tool to validate such inventories.
Liam Bindle, Randall V. Martin, Matthew J. Cooper, Elizabeth W. Lundgren, Sebastian D. Eastham, Benjamin M. Auer, Thomas L. Clune, Hongjian Weng, Jintai Lin, Lee T. Murray, Jun Meng, Christoph A. Keller, William M. Putman, Steven Pawson, and Daniel J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 5977–5997, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-5977-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-5977-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric chemistry models like GEOS-Chem are versatile tools widely used in air pollution and climate studies. The simulations used in such studies can be very computationally demanding, and thus it is useful if the model can simulate a specific geographic region at a higher resolution than the rest of the globe. Here, we implement, test, and demonstrate a new variable-resolution capability in GEOS-Chem that is suitable for simulations conducted on supercomputers.
Lee T. Murray, Eric M. Leibensperger, Clara Orbe, Loretta J. Mickley, and Melissa Sulprizio
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 5789–5823, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-5789-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-5789-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Chemical-transport models are tools used to study air pollution and inform public policy. However, they are limited by the availability of archived meteorology. Here, we describe how the GEOS-Chem chemical-transport model may now be driven by meteorology archived from a state-of-the-art general circulation model for past and future climates, allowing it to be used to explore the impact of climate change on air pollution and atmospheric composition.
Hao Guo, Clare M. Flynn, Michael J. Prather, Sarah A. Strode, Stephen D. Steenrod, Louisa Emmons, Forrest Lacey, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Arlene M. Fiore, Gus Correa, Lee T. Murray, Glenn M. Wolfe, Jason M. St. Clair, Michelle Kim, John Crounse, Glenn Diskin, Joshua DiGangi, Bruce C. Daube, Roisin Commane, Kathryn McKain, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Chelsea Thompson, Thomas F. Hanisco, Donald Blake, Nicola J. Blake, Eric C. Apel, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, James W. Elkins, Eric J. Hintsa, Fred L. Moore, and Steven Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13729–13746, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13729-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13729-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The NASA Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission built a climatology of the chemical composition of tropospheric air parcels throughout the middle of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The level of detail allows us to reconstruct the photochemical budgets of O3 and CH4 over these vast, remote regions. We find that most of the chemical heterogeneity is captured at the resolution used in current global chemistry models and that the majority of reactivity occurs in the
hottest20 % of parcels.
David R. Lyon, Benjamin Hmiel, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, Katherine A. Roberts, Zachary R. Barkley, Kenneth J. Davis, Natasha L. Miles, Vanessa C. Monteiro, Scott J. Richardson, Stephen Conley, Mackenzie L. Smith, Daniel J. Jacob, Lu Shen, Daniel J. Varon, Aijun Deng, Xander Rudelis, Nikhil Sharma, Kyle T. Story, Adam R. Brandt, Mary Kang, Eric A. Kort, Anthony J. Marchese, and Steven P. Hamburg
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6605–6626, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6605-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6605-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The Permian Basin (USA) is the world’s largest oil field. We use tower- and aircraft-based approaches to measure how methane emissions in the Permian Basin changed throughout 2020. In early 2020, 3.3 % of the region’s gas was emitted; then in spring 2020, the loss rate temporarily dropped to 1.9 % as oil price crashed. We find this short-term reduction to be a result of reduced well development, less gas flaring, and fewer abnormal events despite minimal reductions in oil and gas production.
Paul T. Griffiths, Lee T. Murray, Guang Zeng, Youngsub Matthew Shin, N. Luke Abraham, Alexander T. Archibald, Makoto Deushi, Louisa K. Emmons, Ian E. Galbally, Birgit Hassler, Larry W. Horowitz, James Keeble, Jane Liu, Omid Moeini, Vaishali Naik, Fiona M. O'Connor, Naga Oshima, David Tarasick, Simone Tilmes, Steven T. Turnock, Oliver Wild, Paul J. Young, and Prodromos Zanis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 4187–4218, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4187-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4187-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We analyse the CMIP6 Historical and future simulations for tropospheric ozone, a species which is important for many aspects of atmospheric chemistry. We show that the current generation of models agrees well with observations, being particularly successful in capturing trends in surface ozone and its vertical distribution in the troposphere. We analyse the factors that control ozone and show that they evolve over the period of the CMIP6 experiments.
Vasilii V. Petrenko, Andrew M. Smith, Edward M. Crosier, Roxana Kazemi, Philip Place, Aidan Colton, Bin Yang, Quan Hua, and Lee T. Murray
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2055–2063, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2055-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2055-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents an improved methodology for measurements of atmospheric concentration of carbon-14-containing carbon monoxide (14CO), as well as a 1-year dataset that demonstrates the methodology. Atmospheric 14CO concentration measurements are useful for improving the understanding of spatial and temporal variability of hydroxyl radical concentrations. Key improvements over prior methods include a greatly reduced air sample size and accurate procedural blank characterization.
David S. Stevenson, Alcide Zhao, Vaishali Naik, Fiona M. O'Connor, Simone Tilmes, Guang Zeng, Lee T. Murray, William J. Collins, Paul T. Griffiths, Sungbo Shim, Larry W. Horowitz, Lori T. Sentman, and Louisa Emmons
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12905–12920, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12905-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12905-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We present historical trends in atmospheric oxidizing capacity (OC) since 1850 from the latest generation of global climate models and compare these with estimates from measurements. OC controls levels of many key reactive gases, including methane (CH4). We find small model trends up to 1980, then increases of about 9 % up to 2014, disagreeing with (uncertain) measurement-based trends. Major drivers of OC trends are emissions of CH4, NOx, and CO; these will be important for future CH4 trends.
Cited articles
Bell, C. S., Vaughn, T. L., Zimmerle, D., Herndon, S. C., Yacovitch, T. I., Heath, G. A., Pétron, G., Edie, R., Field, R. A., Murphy, S. M., Robertson, A. M., and Soltis, J.: Comparison of methane emission estimates from multiple measurement techniques at natural gas production pads, Elementa, 5, 79, https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.266, 2017.
Bergamaschi, P., Corazza, M., Karstens, U., Athanassiadou, M., Thompson, R. L., Pison, I., Manning, A. J., Bousquet, P., Segers, A., Vermeulen, A. T., Janssens-Maenhout, G., Schmidt, M., Ramonet, M., Meinhardt, F., Aalto, T., Haszpra, L., Moncrieff, J., Popa, M. E., Lowry, D., Steinbacher, M., Jordan, A., O'Doherty, S., Piacentino, S., and Dlugokencky, E.: Top-down estimates of European CH4 and N2O emissions based on four different inverse models, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 715–736, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-715-2015, 2015.
Cambaliza, M. O. L., Shepson, P. B., Caulton, D. R., Stirm, B., Samarov, D., Gurney, K. R., Turnbull, J., Davis, K. J., Possolo, A., Karion, A., Sweeney, C., Moser, B., Hendricks, A., Lauvaux, T., Mays, K., Whetstone, J., Huang, J., Razlivanov, I., Miles, N. L., and Richardson, S. J.: Assessment of uncertainties of an aircraft-based mass balance approach for quantifying urban greenhouse gas emissions, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 9029–9050, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-9029-2014, 2014.
Catena, A. M. and Smith, M. L.: Raw Aerial Observations of Methane and Carbon Dioxide at Several Sectors in New York State in 2021, PANGAEA [data set], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.979845, 2025a.
Catena, A. M. and Smith, M. L.: Emission Rate Estimates of Methane and Carbon Dioxide at Several Sectors in New York State in 2021, PANGAEA [data set], https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.979843, 2025b.
CFR: eCFR: 40 CFR Part 98 – Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting, https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-40/chapter-I/subchapter-C/part-98?toc=1 (last access: 28 August 2025), 2009.
Conley, S. A., Faloona, I. C., Lenschow, D. H., Karion, A., and Sweeney, C.: A Low-Cost System for Measuring Horizontal Winds from Single-Engine Aircraft, J. Atmos. Ocean. Technol., 31, 1312–1320, https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-13-00143.1, 2014.
Conley, S., Faloona, I., Mehrotra, S., Suard, M., Lenschow, D. H., Sweeney, C., Herndon, S., Schwietzke, S., Pétron, G., Pifer, J., Kort, E. A., and Schnell, R.: Application of Gauss's theorem to quantify localized surface emissions from airborne measurements of wind and trace gases, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 3345–3358, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-3345-2017, 2017.
Cusworth, D. H., Duren, R. M., Thorpe, A. K., Olson-Duvall, W., Heckler, J., Chapman, J. W., Eastwood, M. L., Helmlinger, M. C., Green, R. O., Asner, G. P., Dennison, P. E., and Miller, C. E.: Intermittency of Large Methane Emitters in the Permian Basin, Environ. Sci. Tech. Let., 8, 567–573, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.estlett.1c00173, 2021.
Cusworth, D. H., Duren, R. M., Ayasse, A. K., Jiorle, R., Howell, K., Aubrey, A., Green, R. O., Eastwood, M. L., Chapman, J. W., Thorpe, A. K., Heckler, J., Asner, G. P., Smith, M. L., Thoma, E., Krause, M. J., Heins, D., and Thorneloe, S.: Quantifying methane emissions from United States landfills, Science, 383, 1499–1504, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adi7735, 2024.
Daniels, W. S., Wang, J., Ravikumar, A. P., Harrison, M., Roman-White, S. A., George, F. C., and Hammerling, D. M.: Towards multi-scale measurement-informed methane inventories: reconciling bottom-up site-level inventories with top-down measurements using continuous monitoring systems, ChemRxiv, Vancouver, Environ. Sci. Technol., 57, 11823–11833, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c01121, 2023.
Delkash, M., Zhou, B., Han, B., Chow, F. K., Rella, C. W., and Imhoff, P. T.: Short-term landfill methane emissions dependency on wind, Waste Manage., 55, 288–298, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2016.02.009, 2016.
Delkash, M., Chow, F. K., and Imhoff, P. T.: Diurnal landfill methane flux patterns across different seasons at a landfill in Southeastern US, Waste Manage., 144, 76–86, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2022.03.004, 2022.
EPA: Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990–2022, https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-04/us-ghg-inventory-2024-main-text_04-18-2024.pdf (last access: 28 August 2025), 2024.
Erland, B. M., Adams, C., Darlington, A., Smith, M. L., Thorpe, A. K., Wentworth, G. R., Conley, S., Liggio, J., Li, S.-M., Miller, C. E., and Gamon, J. A.: Comparing airborne algorithms for greenhouse gas flux measurements over the Alberta oil sands, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5841–5859, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5841-2022, 2022.
Foster, C. S., Crosman, E. T., Holland, L., Mallia, D. V., Fasoli, B., Bares, R., Horel, J., and Lin, J. C.: Confirmation of Elevated Methane Emissions in Utah's Uintah Basin With Ground-Based Observations and a High-Resolution Transport Model, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 122, 13026–13044, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD027480, 2017.
Gordon, M., Li, S. M., Staebler, R., Darlington, A., Hayden, K., O’Brien, J., and Wolde, M.: Determining air pollutant emission rates based on mass balance using airborne measurement data over the Alberta oil sands operations, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3745–3765, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3745-2015, 2015.
Guha, A., Newman, S., Fairley, D., Dinh, T. M., Duca, L., Conley, S. C., Smith, M. L., Thorpe, A. K., Duren, R. M., Cusworth, D. H., Foster, K. T., Fischer, M. L., Jeong, S., Yesiller, N., Hanson, J. L., and Martien, P. T.: Assessment of Regional Methane Emission Inventories through Airborne Quantification in the San Francisco Bay Area, Environ. Sci. Technol., 54, 9254–9264, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c01212, 2020.
IPCC: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, edited by: Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M., Chen, Z., Marquis, M., Averyt, K. B., And, M. T., and Miller, H. L., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA, https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/05/ar4_wg1_full_report-1.pdf (last access: 28 August 2025), 2007.
Karion, A., Sweeney, C., Kort, E. A., Shepson, P. B., Brewer, A., Cambaliza, M., Conley, S. A., Davis, K., Deng, A., Hardesty, M., Herndon, S. C., Lauvaux, T., Lavoie, T., Lyon, D., Newberger, T., Pétron, G., Rella, C., Smith, M., Wolter, S., Yacovitch, T. I., and Tans, P.: Aircraft-Based Estimate of Total Methane Emissions from the Barnett Shale Region, Environ. Sci. Technol., 49, 8124–8131, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b00217, 2015.
Koene, E. F. M., Brunner, D., and Kuhlmann, G.: On the Theory of the Divergence Method for Quantifying Source Emissions From Satellite Observations, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 129, e2023JD039904, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JD039904, 2024.
Lamb, B. K., Cambaliza, M. O. L., Davis, K. J., Edburg, S. L., Ferrara, T. W., Floerchinger, C., Heimburger, A. M. F., Herndon, S., Lauvaux, T., Lavoie, T., Lyon, D. R., Miles, N., Prasad, K. R., Richardson, S., Roscioli, J. R., Salmon, O. E., Shepson, P. B., Stirm, B. H., and Whetstone, J.: Direct and Indirect Measurements and Modeling of Methane Emissions in Indianapolis, Indiana, Environ. Sci. Technol., 50, 8910–8917, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b01198, 2016.
Liu, Y., Paris, J.-D., Vrekoussis, M., Quéhé, P.-Y., Desservettaz, M., Kushta, J., Dubart, F., Demetriou, D., Bousquet, P., and Sciare, J.: Reconciling a national methane emission inventory with in-situ measurements, Sci. Total Environ., 901, 165896, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165896, 2023.
Miller, S. M. and Michalak, A. M.: Constraining sector-specific CO2 and CH4 emissions in the US, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 3963–3985, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-3963-2017, 2017.
Moore, D. P., Li, N. P., Wendt, L. P., Castañeda, S. R., Falinski, M. M., Zhu, J.-J., Song, C., Ren, Z. J., and Zondlo, M. A.: Underestimation of Sector-Wide Methane Emissions from United States Wastewater Treatment, Environ. Sci. Technol., 57, 4082–4090, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c05373, 2023.
National Academies of Sciences: Improving Characterization of Anthropogenic Methane Emissions in the United States, National Academies of Sciences, https://doi.org/10.17226/24987, 2018.
New York State Climate Action Council: New York State Climate Action Council Scoping Plan, New York State Climate Action Council, https://climate.ny.gov/Resources/Scoping-Plan (last access: 28 August 2025), 2022.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation: 2020 MSW Landfill Capacity Chart, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, https://dec.ny.gov/environmental-protection/waste-management/solid-waste-management-facilities/municipal-solid-waste-landfills/2020-capacity-chart (last access: 28 August 2025), 2020.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation: 2023 Statewide GHG Emissions Report: Summary Report, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Albany, NY, USA, https://dec.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2023-12/summaryreportnysghgemissionsreport2023.pdf (last access: 28 August 2025), 2023a.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation: 2023 Statewide GHG Emissions Report: Waste, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, https://dec.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2023-12/sr4wastenysghgemissionsreport2023.pdf (last access: 28 August 2025), 2023b.
Peischl, J., Karion, A., Sweeney, C., Kort, E. A., Smith, M. L., Brandt, A. R., Yeskoo, T., Aikin, K. C., Conley, S. A., Gvakharia, A., Trainer, M., Wolter, S., and Ryerson, T. B.: Quantifying atmospheric methane emissions from oil and natural gas production in the Bakken shale region of North Dakota, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 121, 6101–6111, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD024631, 2016.
Poulsen, T. G., Christophersen, M., Moldrup, P., and Kjeldsen, P.: Relating landfill gas emissions to atmospheric pressure using numerical modelling and state-space analysis, Waste Manage. Res., 21, 356–366, https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X0302100408, 2003.
Rachor, I. M., Gebert, J., Gröngröft, A., and Pfeiffer, E.-M.: Variability of methane emissions from an old landfill over different time-scales, Eur. J. Soil Sci., 64, 16–26, https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.12004, 2013.
Ravikumar, A. P., Li, H., Yang, S. L., and Smith, M. L.: Developing Measurement-Informed Methane Emissions Inventory Estimates at Midstream Compressor Stations, ACS ES&T Air, 2, 358–367, https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestair.4c00237, 2025.
Saunois, M., Martinez, A., Poulter, B., Zhang, Z., Raymond, P. A., Regnier, P., Canadell, J. G., Jackson, R. B., Patra, P. K., Bousquet, P., Ciais, P., Dlugokencky, E. J., Lan, X., Allen, G. H., Bastviken, D., Beerling, D. J., Belikov, D. A., Blake, D. R., Castaldi, S., Crippa, M., Deemer, B. R., Dennison, F., Etiope, G., Gedney, N., Höglund-Isaksson, L., Holgerson, M. A., Hopcroft, P. O., Hugelius, G., Ito, A., Jain, A. K., Janardanan, R., Johnson, M. S., Kleinen, T., Krummel, P. B., Lauerwald, R., Li, T., Liu, X., McDonald, K. C., Melton, J. R., Mühle, J., Müller, J., Murguia-Flores, F., Niwa, Y., Noce, S., Pan, S., Parker, R. J., Peng, C., Ramonet, M., Riley, W. J., Rocher-Ros, G., Rosentreter, J. A., Sasakawa, M., Segers, A., Smith, S. J., Stanley, E. H., Thanwerdas, J., Tian, H., Tsuruta, A., Tubiello, F. N., Weber, T. S., van der Werf, G. R., Worthy, D. E. J., Xi, Y., Yoshida, Y., Zhang, W., Zheng, B., Zhu, Q., Zhu, Q., and Zhuang, Q.: Global Methane Budget 2000–2020, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 1873–1958, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-1873-2025, 2025.
Shindell, D., Sadavarte, P., Aben, I., Bredariol, T. de O., Dreyfus, G., Höglund-Isaksson, L., Poulter, B., Saunois, M., Schmidt, G. A., Szopa, S., Rentz, K., Parsons, L., Qu, Z., Faluvegi, G., and Maasakkers, J. D.: The Methane Imperative, Front. Sci., 2, 1349770, https://doi.org/10.3389/fsci.2024.1349770, 2024.
Smith, M. L., Kort, E. A., Karion, A., Sweeney, C., Herndon, S. C., and Yacovitch, T. I.: Airborne Ethane Observations in the Barnett Shale: Quantification of Ethane Flux and Attribution of Methane Emissions, Environ. Sci. Technol., 49, 8158–8166, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b00219, 2015.
United Nations Environment Programme and Climate and Clean Air Coalition: Global Methane Assessment: Benefits and Costs of Mitigating Methane Emissions, Nairobi: United Nations Environment Programme, 173 pp., https://wedocs.unep.org/xmlui/handle/20.500.11822/35913 (last access: 28 August 2025), 2021.
US EPA: Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP) [FLIGHT], https://www.epa.gov/ghgreporting/, last access: 27 June 2022.
Wecht, K. J., Jacob, D. J., Sulprizio, M. P., Santoni, G. W., Wofsy, S. C., Parker, R., Bösch, H., and Worden, J.: Spatially resolving methane emissions in California: constraints from the CalNex aircraft campaign and from present (GOSAT, TES) and future (TROPOMI, geostationary) satellite observations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 8173–8184, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8173-2014, 2014.
Winiwarter, W. and Rypdal, K.: Assessing the uncertainty associated with national greenhouse gas emission inventories: a case study for Austria, Atmos. Environ., 35, 5425–5440, 2001.
Xu, L., Lin, X., Amen, J., Welding, K., and McDermitt, D.: Impact of changes in barometric pressure on landfill methane emission, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 28, 679–695, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013GB004571, 2014.
Yu, X., Millet, D. B., Wells, K. C., Henze, D. K., Cao, H., Griffis, T. J., Kort, E. A., Plant, G., Deventer, M. J., Kolka, R. K., Roman, D. T., Davis, K. J., Desai, A. R., Baier, B. C., McKain, K., Czarnetzki, A. C., and Bloom, A. A.: Aircraft-based inversions quantify the importance of wetlands and livestock for Upper Midwest methane emissions, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 951–971, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-951-2021, 2021.
Zhang, H., Yan, X., Cai, Z., and Zhang, Y.: Effect of rainfall on the diurnal variations of CH4, CO2, and N2O fluxes from a municipal solid waste landfill, Sci. Total Environ., 442, 73–76, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.10.041, 2013.
Short summary
Methane and carbon dioxide emission rates were calculated for facilities across several sectors in New York State using aerial observations. Of the sampled facilities, landfills dominated the methane emission rates, while combustion facilities had the highest carbon dioxide emission rates, followed by landfills. The self-reported Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) inventory mostly underestimates landfill methane emissions, apart from a few facilities with comparable numbers.
Methane and carbon dioxide emission rates were calculated for facilities across several sectors...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint