Authors / CoAuthors
Feitz, A.J. | Wilson, P. | Berko, H. | Jenkins, C. | Loh, Z. | Spencer, D. | Etheridge, D.
Abstract
There is increasing recognition that minimising methane emissions from the oil and gas sector is a key step in reducing global greenhouse gas emissions in the near term. Atmospheric monitoring techniques are likely to play an important future role in measuring the extent of existing emissions and verifying emission reductions. They can be very suitable for monitoring gas fields as they are continuous and integrate emissions from a number of potential point and diffuse sources that may vary in time. Geoscience Australia and CSIRO Marine & Atmospheric Research have collected three years of continuous methane and carbon dioxide measurements at their atmospheric composition monitoring station ('Arcturus') in the Bowen Basin, Australia. Methane signals in the Bowen Basin are likely to be influenced by cattle production, landfill, coal production, and conventional and coal seam gas (CSG) production. Australian CSG is typically 'dry' and is characterised by a mixed thermogenic-biogenic methane source with an absence of C3-C6+ alkanes. The range of '13C isotopic signatures of the CSG is similar to methane from landfill gas and cattle emissions. The absence of standard in-situ tracers for CSG fugitive emissions suggests that having a comprehensive baseline will be critical for successful measurement of fugitive emissions using atmospheric techniques. In this paper we report on the sensitivity of atmospheric techniques for the detection of fugitive emissions from a simulated new CSG field against a three year baseline signal. Simulation of emissions was performed for a 1-year period using the coupled prognostic meteorological and air pollution model TAPM at different fugitive emission rates (i.e. estimates of <1% to up to 10% of production lost) and distances (i.e. 10 - 50 km) from the station. Emissions from the simulated CSG field are based on well density, production volumes, and field size typical of CSG fields in Australia. The distributions of the perturbed and baseline signals were evaluated and statistically compared to test for the presence of fugitive methane emissions. In addition, a time series model of the methane baseline was developed in order to generate alternative realizations of the baseline signal. These were used to provide measures of both the likelihood of detecting fugitive emissions at various emission levels and of the false alarm rate. Results of the statistical analysis and an indicative minimum fugitive methane emission rate that can be detected using a single monitoring station are presented. Poster presented at the American Geophysical Union meeting, December 2013, San Francisco
Product Type
nonGeographicDataset
eCat Id
78546
Contact for the resource
Custodian
Owner
Custodian
Cnr Jerrabomberra Ave and Hindmarsh Dr GPO Box 378
Canberra
ACT
2601
Australia
Keywords
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- GA PublicationPoster/Image
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- atmosphere
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- greenhouse gas emissions
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- climate
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- AU-QLD
- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)
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- Atmospheric Sciences
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- Published_External
Publication Date
2013-01-01T00:00:00
Creation Date
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Purpose
Maintenance Information
asNeeded
Topic Category
climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere
Series Information
AGU Fall Meeting 2013, 9-13 December 2013
Lineage
Product from Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute internship and data from GA_CSIRO Atmospheric Baseline Station (Arcturus)
Parent Information
Extents
[-24.0, -23.5, 148.0, 148.5]
Reference System
Spatial Resolution
Service Information
Associations
Source Information
atmospheric data sourced from GA-CSIRO atmospheirc baseline greenhouse gas station