High-resolution assessment of coal mining methane emissions by satellite in Shanxi, China
Shushi Peng,
Clément Giron,
Gang Liu,
Alexandre d’Aspremont,
Antoine Benoit,
Thomas Lauvaux,
Xin Lin,
Hugo de Almeida Rodrigues,
Marielle Saunois,
Philippe Ciais
Affiliations
Shushi Peng
Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, and Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, Peking University, Beijing, China; Corresponding author
Clément Giron
Kayrros, 33 rue Lafayette, 75009 Paris, France
Gang Liu
Sino-French Institute for Earth System Science, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, and Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, Peking University, Beijing, China
Alexandre d’Aspremont
Kayrros, 33 rue Lafayette, 75009 Paris, France; CNRS & DI, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France
Antoine Benoit
Kayrros, 33 rue Lafayette, 75009 Paris, France
Thomas Lauvaux
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Xin Lin
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Hugo de Almeida Rodrigues
Kayrros, 33 rue Lafayette, 75009 Paris, France
Marielle Saunois
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Philippe Ciais
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France; The Cyprus Institute, 20 Konstantinou Kavafi Street, 2121 Nicosia, Cyprus
Summary: Accurate assessment of coal mine methane (CMM) emissions is a prerequisite for defining baselines and assessing the effectiveness of mitigation measures. Such an endeavor is jeopardized, however, by large uncertainties in current CMM estimates. Here, we assimilated atmospheric methane column concentrations observed by the TROPOMI space borne instrument in a high-resolution regional inversion to estimate CMM emissions in Shanxi, a province representing 15% of the global coal production. The emissions are estimated to be 8.5 ± 0.6 and 8.6 ± 0.6 Tg CH4 yr−1 in 2019 and 2020, respectively, close to upper bound of current bottom-up estimates. Data from more than a thousand of individual mines indicate that our estimated emission factors increase significantly with coal mining depth at prefecture level, suggesting that ongoing deeper mining will increase CMM emission intensity. Our results show robustness of estimating CMM emissions utilizing TROPOMI images and highlight potential of monitoring methane leakages and emissions from satellites.
