High-resolution assessment of coal mining methane emissions by satellite in Shanxi, China

Accurate assessment of coal mine methane (CMM) emissions is a prerequisite for defining baselines and assessing the effectiveness of mitigation measures. Such an endeavor is jeopardized, however, by large uncertainties in current CMM estimates. Here, we assimilated atmospheric methane column concent...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Peng, Shushi, Giron, Clément, Liu, Gang, d’Aspremont, Alexandre, Benoit, Antoine, Lauvaux, Thomas, Lin, Xin, de Almeida Rodrigues, Hugo, Saunois, Marielle, Ciais, Philippe
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10679808/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38025773
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.108375
Descripción
Sumario:Accurate assessment of coal mine methane (CMM) emissions is a prerequisite for defining baselines and assessing the effectiveness of mitigation measures. Such an endeavor is jeopardized, however, by large uncertainties in current CMM estimates. Here, we assimilated atmospheric methane column concentrations observed by the TROPOMI space borne instrument in a high-resolution regional inversion to estimate CMM emissions in Shanxi, a province representing 15% of the global coal production. The emissions are estimated to be 8.5 ± 0.6 and 8.6 ± 0.6 Tg CH(4) yr(−1) in 2019 and 2020, respectively, close to upper bound of current bottom-up estimates. Data from more than a thousand of individual mines indicate that our estimated emission factors increase significantly with coal mining depth at prefecture level, suggesting that ongoing deeper mining will increase CMM emission intensity. Our results show robustness of estimating CMM emissions utilizing TROPOMI images and highlight potential of monitoring methane leakages and emissions from satellites.