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Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
earth and planetary sciences
Reversal of global atmospheric ethane and propane trends largely due to US oil and natural gas production
Nature Geoscience, Volume 9, No. 7, Year 2016
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Description
Non-methane hydrocarbons such as ethane are important precursors to tropospheric ozone and aerosols. Using data from a global surface network and atmospheric column observations we show that the steady decline in the ethane mole fraction that began in the 1970s halted between 2005 and 2010 in most of the Northern Hemisphere and has since reversed. We calculate a yearly increase in ethane emissions in the Northern Hemisphere of 0.42 (±0.19) Tg yr-1 between mid-2009 and mid-2014. The largest increases in ethane and the shorter-lived propane are seen over the central and eastern USA, with a spatial distribution that suggests North American oil and natural gas development as the primary source of increasing emissions. By including other co-emitted oil and natural gas non-methane hydrocarbons, we estimate a Northern Hemisphere total non-methane hydrocarbon yearly emission increase of 1.2 (±0.8) Tg yr-1. Atmospheric chemical transport modelling suggests that these emissions could augment summertime mean surface ozone by several nanomoles per mole near oil and natural gas production regions. Methane/ethane oil and natural gas emission ratios could suggest a significant increase in associated methane emissions; however, this increase is inconsistent with observed leak rates in production regions and changes in methane's global isotopic ratio. © 2016 Macmillan Publishers Limited.
Authors & Co-Authors
Helmig, Detlev
United States, Boulder
University of Colorado Boulder
Hueber, Jacques
United States, Boulder
University of Colorado Boulder
Tans, Pieter P.
United States, Washington, D.c.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Montzka, Stephen A.
United States, Washington, D.c.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Plaß-Dülmer, Christian
Germany, Offenbach
Deutscher Wetterdienst
Carpenter, Lucy J.
United Kingdom, York
University of York
Lewis, Alastair C.
Unknown Affiliation
Reimann, Stefan
Switzerland, Dubendorf
Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology
Vollmer, Martin K.
Switzerland, Dubendorf
Empa - Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology
Steinbrecher, Rainer
Germany, Eggenstein-leopoldshafen
Karlsruher Institut Für Technologie, Campus Nord
Mahieu, E.
Belgium, Liege
Université de Liège
Smale, Dan
New Zealand, Auckland
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
Pozzer, Andrea
Germany, Mainz
Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
Statistics
Citations: 129
Authors: 13
Affiliations: 10
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1038/ngeo2721
ISSN:
17520894
Research Areas
Environmental