WASHINGTON - The U.S. should take bold steps to improve measurement, monitoring, and inventories of methane emissions caused by human activities, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Better data on methane -- a greenhouse gas that contributes to air pollution and threatens public and worker safety -- would help inform decisions related to climate, economics, and human health.
"Methane is getting more attention because it is a potent, short-lived greenhouse gas that is increasing," said James W.C. White, professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and chair of the committee that conducted the study and wrote the report. "There have been recent advances in our abilities to measure and monitor methane from its many sources, and now we need to strengthen and interlink these different approaches."
Anthropogenic sources of methane emissions span various sectors of the economy such as energy, agriculture, and waste disposal. There are a variety of reasons, beyond climate change, to measure, monitor, and track methane emissions. For example, monitoring of methane emissions is important to protecting the health and safety of workers in industries such as coal mining, and recovery of methane can have an economic benefit as a source of energy.
In general, there are two approaches to estimate these emissions. The top-down approach estimates emissions using observations of atmospheric methane concentrations and models that simulate their transport from the source to the observation location. The bottom-up approach measures emissions at the scale of individual methane emitters, such as natural gas wells or cattle farms, and uses those results to extrapolate emissions at regional and national scales.
In some cases, the estimates produced by these two methods differ significantly, potentially revealing missing emission sources, for example, or problems with the atmospheric sampling. To address such discrepancies, the report recommends a national research effort to strengthen the two methods to improve accuracy, better attribute emissions to specific sectors and processes, and detect trends.
Currently, the Greenhouse Gases Inventory (GHGI) serves as the main source of information for emissions in the U.S., with emissions reported at national, annual scales. As a complement to the GHGI, the report says the U.S. should establish and maintain a gridded inventory that presents data at finer spatial (i.e. size and distance) and temporal (i.e. time) scales. Such an inventory, with values for major sources of emissions within the grid of a location, is necessary for scientists to make detailed comparisons between the top-down and bottom-up estimates of methane emissions, and would address the needs of state and local policymakers who require more detailed information than currently available.
Numerous inventories that track methane emissions over time and link them to their specific source have been developed to address specific needs. The GHGI trends in the data help policymakers assess the effectiveness of national-scale policy initiatives. State-level inventories are more detailed than the GHGI, allowing for tailoring of state policy. Individual facilities or companies use inventories for corporate sustainability reporting and to make informed investment and risk decisions.
As the science evolves and methodologies to estimate emissions become outdated, the report stresses it is important to keep practices consistent with the best scientific understanding and current engineering practice. An advisory group should be established to guide how new science can be incorporated into improving the GHGI. The group could be facilitated by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and should include experts from academia, industry, policymaking, other federal agencies, and nongovernmental organizations. Any changes to the GHGI resulting from these activities should be clearly communicated to the public, the committee said.
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The study was sponsored by EPA, DOE, NOAA, and NASA. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, technology, and medicine. The National Academies operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Lincoln. For more information, visit http://national-academies.org.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING, AND MEDICINE
Division on Earth and Life Studies
Board on Atmospheric Sciences and Climate
Committee on Anthropogenic Methane Emissions in the United States:
Improving Measurement, Monitoring, Reporting, and Development of Inventories
James W.C. White (chair)
Interim Dean of Arts and Sciences
Professor of Geological Sciences
Department of Geological Sciences
University of Colorado
Boulder
David Allen1
Gertz Regents Chair in Chemical Engineering
McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering
University of Texas
Austin
Praveen K. Amar
Independent Consultant
Lexington, Mass.
Jean Bogner
Research Professor Emerita
University of Illinois
Chicago
Lori Bruhwiler
Physical Scientist
Earth Systems Research Laboratory
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Boulder, Colo.
Daniel Cooley
Associate Professor
Department of Statistics
Colorado State University
Fort Collins
Christian Frankenberg
Associate Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering
California Institute of Technology
Pasadena
Fiji George
Director of Strategic Solutions
Southwestern Energy
Spring, Texas
Lisa Hanle
Independent Consultant
Alexandria, Va.
Alexander H. Hristov
Professor of Dairy Nutrition
Pennsylvania State University
University Park
Ermias Kebreab
Professor
Department of Animal Science
University of California
Davis
April Leytem
Research Soil Scientist
Northwest Irrigation and Soils Research Lab
USDA Agricultural Research Service
Kimberly, Idaho
Maria Mastalerz
Adjunct Research Scientist
Department of Geological Sciences
Indiana University
Bloomington
Steven Wofsy2
Abbot Lawrence Rotch Professor of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, and
School of Engineering and Applied Science
Harvard University
Cambridge, Mass.
STAFF
Katherine Thomas
Study Director
1 Member, National Academy of Engineering
2 Member, National Academy of Sciences