@article{3afc2c48b6c14ac48b1db6c50619c8b6,
title = "Atmospheric Methane Emissions Correlate With Natural Gas Consumption From Residential and Commercial Sectors in Los Angeles",
abstract = "Legislation in the State of California mandates reductions in emissions of short-lived climate pollutants of 40% from 2013 levels by 2030 for CH4. Identification of the sector(s) responsible for these emissions and their temporal and spatial variability is a key step in achieving these goals. Here, we determine the emissions of CH4 in Los Angeles from 2011–2017 using a mountaintop remote sensing mapping spectrometer. We show that the pattern of CH4 emissions contains both seasonal and nonseasonal contributions. We find that the seasonal component peaks in the winter and is correlated (R2 = 0.58) with utility natural gas consumption from the residential and commercial sectors and not from the industrial and gas-fired power plant sectors. The nonseasonal component is (22.9 ± 1.4) Gg CH4/month. If the seasonal correlation is causal, about (1.4 ± 0.1)% of the commercial and residential natural gas consumption in Los Angeles is released into the atmosphere.",
keywords = "greenhouse gas, methane emissions, natural gas leakage, urban pollution",
author = "Liyin He and Zeng, {Zhao Cheng} and Pongetti, {Thomas J.} and Clare Wong and Jianming Liang and Gurney, {Kevin R.} and Sally Newman and Vineet Yadav and Kristal Verhulst and Miller, {Charles E.} and Riley Duren and Christian Frankenberg and Wennberg, {Paul O.} and Shia, {Run Lie} and Yung, {Yuk L.} and Sander, {Stanley P.}",
note = "Funding Information: This research was supported by NIST, CARB, and NASA. We gratefully acknowledge discussions with M. Fischer, G. Heath, J. Hedelius, M. Weitz, and V. Camobreco. L.H. thanks the Resnick Sustainability Institute at Caltech for fellowship support. We thank A. Andrews and E. Dlugokencky for providing the NOAA flask measurements at Mt. Wilson Observatory (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,). CLARS-FTS data are available from the NASA Megacities Project (https://megacities.jpl.nasa.gov). The research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. L. H., Z. C. Z., T. P., C. W., and S. S. carried out the data acquisition and analysis, J. L. and K. G. provided the Hestia inventory, S. S., L. H., and Z. C. Z. wrote the paper, and all authors contributed to the analysis and discussion of the results. The authors declare no competing financial interests. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright}2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.",
year = "2019",
doi = "10.1029/2019GL083400",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "46",
pages = "8563--8571",
journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",
issn = "0094-8276",
publisher = "American Geophysical Union",
number = "14",
}