A015-08
Estimating Upper Silesian coal mine methane emissions from airborne in situ observations
Monday, 7 December 2020: 05:51
Virtual
Julian Kostinek1, Anke Roiger2, Maximilian Eckl3, Alina Fiehn2, Andreas Luther4, Norman Wildmann2, Theresa Klausner4, Andreas Fix2, Christoph Knote5, Andreas Stohl6 and Andre Butz7, (1)German Aerospace Center DLR Oberpfaffenhofen, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, (2)Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, (3)German Aerospace Center (DLR) Oberpfaffenhofen, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Wessling, Germany, (4)German Aerospace Center Oberpfaffenhofen, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Oberpfaffenhofen-Wessling, Germany, (5)Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU), Meteorological Institute, Munich, Germany, (6)University of Vienna, Department of Meteorology and Geophysics, Vienna, Austria, (7)Heidelberg University, Institute of Environmental Physics, Heidelberg, Germany
Abstract:
The Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) in southern Poland is one of Europe's methane emitting hot spots apparent in the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR~v4.3.2). Mining and industrial activities lead to basin-total emissions of 448 / 720\,\unit{kt\,CH_4\,yr^{-1}} reported in the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR~2017) and EDGAR~v4.3.2 inventories. CH$_4$ emitters in this area are mostly confined to known coal mine ventilation shafts making the USCB a prime research target for improving and validating airborne CH$_4$ flux estimation techniques.
\noindent High-precision measurements of this potent GHG were made downwind of local to regional-scale sources during the CoMet 1.0 campaign in early summer 2018. An Aerodyne Quantum Cascade/Interband Cascade Laser (QCL/ICL) based spectrometer was successfully deployed aboard a Cessna 208 to sample the planetary boundary layer (PBL) in the USCB. Using a model approach including assimilated wind soundings from three co-deployed ground-based Doppler lidars, we find instantaneous emission estimates of 412\,/\,442\,$\pm$\,70\,/\,75\,\unit{kt\,CH_4\,yr^{-1}} for two flights on June 6th, 2018. These estimates are only slightly lower (8\,\unit{\%}\,/\,2\,\unit{\%}) than annual-average data from E-PRTR~2017, albeit significantly lower (57\,\unit{\%}\,/\,40\,\unit{\%}) than values reported in the EDGAR~v4.3.2 inventory.
