scholarly journals Airborne flux measurements of methane and volatile organic compounds over the Haynesville and Marcellus shale gas production regions

2015 ◽  
Vol 120 (12) ◽  
pp. 6271-6289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Yuan ◽  
Lisa Kaser ◽  
Thomas Karl ◽  
Martin Graus ◽  
Jeff Peischl ◽  
...  
2013 ◽  
Vol 70 (10) ◽  
pp. 3277-3287 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Karl ◽  
P. K. Misztal ◽  
H. H. Jonsson ◽  
S. Shertz ◽  
A. H. Goldstein ◽  
...  

Abstract Airborne flux measurements of isoprene were performed over the Californian oak belts surrounding the Central Valley. The authors demonstrate for the first time 1) the feasibility of airborne eddy covariance measurements of reactive biogenic volatile organic compounds; 2) the effect of chemistry on the vertical transport of reactive species, such as isoprene; and 3) the applicability of wavelet analysis to estimate regional fluxes of biogenic volatile organic compounds. These flux measurements demonstrate that instrumentation operating at slower response times (e.g., 1–5 s) can still be used to determine eddy covariance fluxes in the mixed layer above land, where typical length scales of 0.5–3 km were observed. Flux divergence of isoprene measured in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) is indicative of OH densities in the range of 4–7 × 106 molecules per cubic centimeter and allows extrapolation of airborne fluxes to the surface with Damköhler numbers (ratio between the mixing time scale and the chemical time scale) in the range of 0.3–0.9. Most of the isoprene is oxidized in the PBL with entrainment fluxes of about 10% compared to the corresponding surface fluxes. Entrainment velocities of 1–10 cm s−1 were measured. The authors present implications for parameterizing PBL schemes of reactive species in regional and global models.


2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 14273-14309 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Karl ◽  
E. Apel ◽  
A. Hodzic ◽  
D. Riemer ◽  
D. Blake ◽  
...  

Abstract. Toluene and benzene are used for assessing the ability to measure disjunct eddy covariance (DEC) fluxes of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) using Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometry (PTR-MS) on aircraft. Statistically significant correlation between vertical wind speed and mixing ratios suggests that airborne VOC eddy covariance (EC) flux measurements using PTR-MS are feasible. City-average midday toluene and benzene fluxes are calculated to be on the order of 15.5±4.0 mg/m2/h and 4.7±2.3 mg/m2/h respectively. These values argue for an underestimation of toluene and benzene emissions in current inventories used for the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA). Wavelet analysis of instantaneous toluene and benzene measurements during city overpasses is tested as a tool to assess surface emission heterogeneity. High toluene to benzene flux ratios above an industrial district (e.g. 10–15) including the International airport (e.g. 3–5) and a mean flux (concentration) ratio of 3.2±0.5 (3.9±0.3) across Mexico City indicate that evaporative fuel and industrial emissions play an important role for the prevalence of aromatic compounds. Based on a tracer model, which was constrained by BTEX (Benzene/Toluene/Ethylbenzene/m,p,o-Xylenes) compound concentration ratios, the fuel marker methyl-tertiary-butyl-ether (MTBE) and the biomass burning marker acetonitrile (CH3CN), we show that a combination of industrial, evaporative fuel, and exhaust emissions account for >90% of all BTEX sources. Our observations suggest that biomass burning emissions play a minor role for the abundance of BTEX compounds (0–10%) in the MCMA.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Achim Edtbauer ◽  
Eva Y. Pfannerstill ◽  
Ana Paula Pires Florentino ◽  
Cybelli G. G. Barbosa ◽  
Emilio Rodriguez-Caballero ◽  
...  

AbstractCryptogamic organisms such as bryophytes and lichens cover most surfaces within tropical forests, yet their impact on the emission of biogenic volatile organic compounds is unknown. These compounds can strongly influence atmospheric oxidant levels as well as secondary organic aerosol concentrations, and forest canopy leaves have been considered the dominant source of these emissions. Here we present cuvette flux measurements, made in the Amazon rainforest between 2016–2018, and show that common bryophytes emit large quantities of highly reactive sesquiterpenoids and that widespread lichens strongly uptake atmospheric oxidation products. A spatial upscaling approach revealed that cryptogamic organisms emit sesquiterpenoids in quantities comparable to current canopy attributed estimates, and take up atmospheric oxidation products at rates comparable to hydroxyl radical chemistry. We conclude that cryptogamic organisms play an important and hitherto overlooked role in atmospheric chemistry above and within tropical rainforests.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (17) ◽  
pp. 3319-3332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukas Kohl ◽  
Markku Koskinen ◽  
Kaisa Rissanen ◽  
Iikka Haikarainen ◽  
Tatu Polvinen ◽  
...  

Abstract. Studies that quantify plant methane (CH4) emission rely on the accurate measurement of small changes in the mixing ratio of CH4 that coincide with much larger changes in the mixing ratio of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Here, we assessed whether 11 commonly occurring VOCs (e.g. methanol, α- and β-pinene, Δ3-carene) interfered with the quantitation of CH4 by five laser-absorption spectroscopy and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) based CH4 analysers, and quantified the interference of seven compounds on three instruments. Our results showed minimal interference with laser-based analysers and underlined the importance of identifying and compensating for interferences with FTIR instruments. When VOCs were not included in the spectral library, they exerted a strong bias on FTIR-based instruments (64–1800 ppbv apparent CH4 ppmv−1 VOC). Minor (0.7–126 ppbv ppmv−1) interference with FTIR-based measurements were also detected when the spectrum of the interfering VOC was included in the library. In contrast, we detected only minor (<20 ppbv ppmv−1) and transient (< 1 min) VOC interferences on laser-absorption spectroscopy-based analysers. Overall, our results demonstrate that VOC interferences have only minor effects on CH4 flux measurements in soil chambers, but may severely impact stem and shoot flux measurements. Laser-absorption-based instruments are better suited for quantifying CH4 fluxes from plant leaves and stems than FTIR-based instruments; however, significant interferences in shoot chamber measurements could not be excluded for any of the tested instruments. Our results furthermore showed that FTIR can precisely quantify VOC mixing ratios and could therefore provide a method complementary to proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukas Fischer ◽  
Martin Breitenlechner ◽  
Eva Canaval ◽  
Wiebke Scholz ◽  
Marcus Striednig ◽  
...  

Abstract. We present first eddy covariance flux measurements with the PTR3-TOF-MS, a novel proton-transfer-reaction mass-spectrometer (PTR-MS). During three weeks in spring 2016 the instrument recorded 10 Hz BVOC data on top of the SMEAR II tower in Hyytiälä, Finland. Flux and concentration data of isoprene, monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes were compared to the literature. Due to the improved instrument sensitivity and a customized “wall less” inlet design we could detect a number of fluxes of semi-volatile and low volatile organic compounds (SVOC and LVOC) with less than single digit picomol/m2/s values for the first time. These compounds include sesquiterpene oxidation products and diterpenes. Daytime diterpene fluxes were in the range of 0.05 to 0.15 picomol/m2/s, which amounts to about 0.25 % to 0.5 % of the daytime sesquiterpene flux above canopy.


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