Methane Point Source Quantification Using MethaneAIR: A New Airborne Imaging Spectrometer
Authors: Chulakadabba Apisada , Sargent Maryann , Lauvaux Thomas , Benmergui Joshua S. , Franklin Jonathan E. , Chan Miller Christopher , Wilzewski Jonas S. , Roche Sébastien , Conway Eamon , Souri Amir H. , Sun Kang , Luo Bingkun , Hawthrone Jacob , Samra Jenna , Daube Bruce C. , Liu Xiong , Chance Kelly V. , Li Yang , Gautam Ritesh , Omara Mark , Rutherford Jeff S. , Sherwin Evan D. , Brandt Adam , Wofsy Steven C. 
Published: June 2023

Abstract. The MethaneSAT satellite instrument and its aircraft precursor, MethaneAIR, are imaging spectrometers designed to measure methane concentrations with wide spatial coverage, fine spatial resolution, and high precision compared to currently deployed remote sensing instruments. At 12960 m cruise altitude above ground (13850 above sea level), MethaneAIR datasets have a 4.5 km swath gridded to 10m x 10m pixels with 17–20 ppb standard deviation on a flat scene. It was deployed in the summer of 2021 in the Permian Basin to test the accuracy of the retrieved methane concentrations and emission rates using the algorithms developed for MethaneSAT. We report here point source emissions obtained during a single-blind volume controlled release experiment, using two methods: (1) The modified Integrated Mass Enhancement (mIME) method estimates emission rates using the total mass enhancement of methane in an observed plume combined with winds obtained from Weather Research Forecast driven by High-Resolution Rapid Refresh meteorological data in Large Eddy Simulations mode (WRF-LES-HRRR). WRF-LES-HRRR simulates winds in stochastic eddy-scale (100–1000 m) variability, which is particularly important for low-wind conditions and informing the error budget. The mIME can estimate emission rates of plumes of any size that are detectable by MethaneAIR. (2) The Divergence Integral (DI) method applies Gauss’s theorem to estimate the flux divergence fields through a series of closed surfaces enclosing the sources. The set of boxes grows from the upwind side of the plume through the core of each plume and downwind. No selection of inflow concentration, as used in the mIME, is required. The DI approach can efficiently determine fluxes from large sources and clusters of sources but cannot resolve small point emissions. These methods account for the effects of eddy-scale variation in different ways: the DI averages across many eddies, whereas the mIME re-samples many eddies from the LES simulation; they also use different wind products. Emissions estimates from both the mIME and DI methods agreed closely with the blinded-volume controlled releases experiments (N = 21). The York regression between the estimated emissions and the released emissions has a slope of 0.96 [0.84, 1.08], R = 0.83 and N = 21, with 30 % mean percentage error for the whole data set, which indicates that MethaneAIR can quantify point sources emitting more than 200 kg/hr for the mIME and 500 kg/hr for the DI method. The two methods also agreed on methane emission estimates from various uncontrolled sources in the Permian Basin. The experiment thus demonstrates the powerful potential of our instruments for remote sensing and quantification of methane emissions.