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This map shows results of drive-by emissions sampling in DISH, Texas and neighboring Flower Mound as well as other parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth Area. The large plumes are possible indications of emissions of toxic VOCs from natural gas compression and storage facilities.
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What is Methane?
• Present in the atmosphere at low levels – 1.8 parts-per-million (ppm)
• Primary constituent of natural gas• Emitted by a variety of sources
– Farms– Landfills– Wetlands– Industrial activities of all types
• Powerful greenhouse gas• Non-toxic at ppm levels
– Sometimes accompanied by other more toxic chemicals
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Methane Mapping
• Our goal is to provide a map of airborne methane for:– Rapid hunting and tracking of natural gas product leaks– Distinguishing between different sources of methane (both natural
and human)– Identifying areas of concern for more careful, quantitative studies of
airborne emissions
• We need to build a methane measurement tool that is– Fast – responds in seconds– Accurate – Measures methane, and only methane, very accurately– Easy – something anyone can use
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World’s Highest Performance and Easiest to Use Analyzers
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What is Picarro?
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Picarro – world class greenhouse gas monitors
• Picarro Technology chosen as the Gold Standard by the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
• Hundreds of units installed in 45 countries and on all 7 continents and in every ecosystem imaginable
• Used by virtually every major international GHG monitoring network:- NOAA - Australia CSIRO- Chinese Meteorological Agency - Environment Canada- EU’s ICOS - German EPA- France’s LSCE - Irish EPA- Japan’s NIES - Swiss EPA- Korean Meteorological Association - Too many universities to mention
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What’s inside the box?
• Cavity Ringdown Spectroscopy– “Cavity” – 10 inches long, but 10 mile path length = parts-per-billion– “Ringdown” – this is a measurement of time = accurate– “Spectroscopy” – measures ONLY methane = not confused by other
chemicals
• Ruggedized for use in the field
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Measure Anywhere
Vessels
Aircraft
Highways
Telecom
Buildings
Cities
Fields
Mountains
Blimps Landfills
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Methane measurements on the road
• Picarro CRDS methane (model G1202)– ppb resolution for both
gases in just a few seconds
– Accurate, robust, and easy-to-deploy
• High resolution GPS• Batteries for mobile
operation• Reporting of data
directly into Google Earth to make the maps
Gas snorkelGPS antenna
batteriesPicarro CRDS
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A typical map
• The “ribbon” of data shows where we traveled
• The height above the ground shows the methane concentration at that location
800 ft above ground = 1 ppm of methane
55 mph
Methane: +0.1 ppm
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DISH, Tx – Wind Data
Measurements taken @ 1-3 pm
Wind from the NWwww.wunderground.com
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• Width of peak + direction of wind indicates a rough “footprint” of where the source is likely to be
• Measurements with different wind directions can be used to triangulate the source wind
Where is the source?
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Roadside source, looking downwind
• No obvious source visible on satellite image from 2001
• On-site inspection would reveal likely source
• Remember: high concentrations does not necessarily mean big emissions!– Distance to source– Wind speed– Still air vs. turbulent air
• Methane mapping is not the same as emissions quantification
Methane: +11 ppm
wind
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Outlook for methane mapping
• Measuring methane accurately, in real time, from a vehicle is a powerful tool to help identify and quantify sources of methane– Leak detection– Source identification– Choosing target areas for future measurements
• Further work: to extend this technique to provide quantification of emissions (in tons / year) for methane and other chemicals
