Minimum detection limits of the TROPOMI satellite sensor across North America and their implications for measuring oil and gas methane emissions
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Published version
Author(s)
Dubey, Luke
Cooper, Jasmin
Hawkes, Adam
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Methane emissions from natural gas are of ever-increasing importance as we struggle to reach Paris climate targets. Locating and measuring emissions from natural gas can be particularly difficult as they are often widely distributed across supply chains. Satellites are increasingly used to measure these emissions, with some such as TROPOMI giving daily coverage worldwide, making locating and quantifying these emissions easier. However, there is little understanding of the real-world detection limits of TROPOMI, which can cause emissions to go undetected or be misattributed. This paper uses TROPOMI and meteorological data to calculate, and create a map of, the minimum detection limits of the TROPOMI satellite sensor across North America for different campaign lengths. We then compared these to emission inventories to determine the quantity of emissions that can be captured by TROPOMI. We find that minimum detection limits vary from 500-8800 kg/h/pixel in a single overpass to 50-1200 kg/h/pixel for a yearlong campaign. This leads to 0.04 % of a year's emissions being captured in a single (day) measurement to 14.4 % in a 1-year measurement campaign. Assuming gas sites contain super-emitters, emissions of between 4.5 % - 10.1 % from a single measurement and 35.6 % - 41.1 % for a yearlong campaign are captured.
Date Issued
2023-05-10
Date Acceptance
2023-02-09
Citation
Science of the Total Environment, 2023, 872, pp.1-9
ISSN
0048-9697
Publisher
Elsevier
Start Page
1
End Page
9
Journal / Book Title
Science of the Total Environment
Volume
872
Copyright Statement
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36796684
PII: S0048-9697(23)00838-0
Subjects
Climate change
Methane
Minimum detection limits
Natural gas
Satellites
TROPOMI
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
Netherlands
Article Number
162222
Date Publish Online
2023-02-14