Articles | Volume 18, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2987-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2987-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
10 Jul 2025
Research article |
| 10 Jul 2025
| 10 Jul 2025
Development of a forced advection sampling technique (FAST) for quantification of methane emissions from orphaned wells
Mohit L. Dubey
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Andre Santos
Climate Sciences Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Andrew B. Moyes
Climate Sciences Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Ken Reichl
Climate Sciences Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
James E. Lee
Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
Manvendra K. Dubey
Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
Corentin LeYhuelic
Department of Physics, École Normale Supérieure Paris Saclay, Paris, France
Evan Variano
Department of Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Emily Follansbee
Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA
Fotini K. Chow
Department of Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Sébastien C. Biraud
Climate Sciences Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
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Ryan C. Sullivan, David P. Billesbach, Sebastien Biraud, Stephen Chan, Richard Hart, Evan Keeler, Jenni Kyrouac, Sujan Pal, Mikhail Pekour, Sara L. Sullivan, Adam Theisen, Matt Tuftedal, and David R. Cook
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 5007–5038, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-5007-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-5007-2025, 2025
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Turbulent fluxes quantify the exchange of energy, water, or trace gases into and out of the atmosphere. The U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement user facility has been making atmospheric measurements since the early 1990s, including measurements of turbulent fluxes using two well-established methods: the energy balance Bowen ratio and eddy covariance. This paper documents key aspects of these datasets, including their history, changes through time, and best use practices.
Emily Follansbee, James E. Lee, Mohit L. Dubey, Jonathan F. Dooley, Curtis Shuck, Ken Minschwaner, Andre Santos, Sebastien C. Biraud, and Manvendra K. Dubey
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 4527–4542, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-4527-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-4527-2025, 2025
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This work uses ambient methane and wind measurements to quantify methane emissions from a leaking orphaned oil and gas well using Gaussian plume inversions. Our analysis shows that existing Gaussian plume methods that assume atmospheric stability are prone to large errors. We report a more robust analysis that determines plume dispersion coefficients from our in situ observations. Our technique enables more accurate methane quantification of orphaned oil and gas wells to prioritize plugging.
Marc N. Fiddler, Vaios Moschos, Megan M. McRee, Abu Sayeed Md Shawon, Kyle Gorkowski, James E. Lee, Nevil A. Franco, Katherine B. Benedict, Samir Kattel, Chelia Thompson, Manvendra K. Dubey, and Solomon Bililign
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2720, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2720, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
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The study used a photoacoustic spectrometer as a reference instrument to determine the multiple-scattering correction factor Cλ for an AE33 aethalometer at three wavelengths, which we believe is critical for aerosol absorption measurements using aethalometer. This is an important parametrization of Cλ specifically geared towards BB aerosol from African fuels under different aging states, and is of particular importance for future field work in that continent which is at present least studied.
Macy Frost Chang, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, and Fotini Katopodes Chow
Wind Energ. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2025-85, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-2025-85, 2025
Preprint under review for WES
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The development of offshore wind energy sites hinges on accurate prediction of hub-height wind speeds. This paper compares three machine learning (ML) algorithms to a standard log-law wind extrapolation at two offshore buoy sites. The ML methods demonstrate new capabilities for providing accurate and adaptable predictions of offshore wind characteristics in comparison to conventional approaches. These ML techniques can help inform the development of offshore wind energy projects.
Adam S. Wise, Robert S. Arthur, Aliza Abraham, Sonia Wharton, Raghavendra Krishnamurthy, Rob Newsom, Brian Hirth, John Schroeder, Patrick Moriarty, and Fotini K. Chow
Wind Energ. Sci., 10, 1007–1032, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-1007-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-10-1007-2025, 2025
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Wind farms can be subject to rapidly changing weather events. In the United States Great Plains, some of these weather events can result in waves in the atmosphere that ultimately affect how much power a wind farm can produce. We modeled a specific event of waves observed in Oklahoma. We determined how to accurately model the event and analyzed how it affected a wind farm’s power production, finding that the waves both decreased power and made it more variable.
Jeongmin Yun, Junjie Liu, Brendan Byrne, Brad Weir, Lesley E. Ott, Kathryn McKain, Bianca C. Baier, Luciana V. Gatti, and Sebastien C. Biraud
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1725–1748, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1725-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1725-2025, 2025
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This study quantifies errors in regional net surface–atmosphere CO2 flux estimates from an inverse model ensemble using airborne CO2 measurements. Our results show that flux error estimates based on observations significantly exceed those computed from the ensemble spread of flux estimates in regions with high fossil fuel emissions. This finding suggests the presence of systematic biases in the inversion estimates, associated with errors in the fossil fuel emissions common to all models.
Fan Mei, Jennifer M. Comstock, Mikhail S. Pekour, Jerome D. Fast, Krista L. Gaustad, Beat Schmid, Shuaiqi Tang, Damao Zhang, John E. Shilling, Jason M. Tomlinson, Adam C. Varble, Jian Wang, L. Ruby Leung, Lawrence Kleinman, Scot Martin, Sebastien C. Biraud, Brian D. Ermold, and Kenneth W. Burk
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 5429–5448, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5429-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-5429-2024, 2024
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Our study explores a comprehensive dataset from airborne field studies (2013–2018) conducted using the US Department of Energy's Gulfstream 1 (G-1). The 236 flights span diverse regions, including the Arctic, US Southern Great Plains, US West Coast, eastern North Atlantic, Amazon Basin in Brazil, and Sierras de Córdoba range in Argentina. This dataset provides unique insights into atmospheric dynamics, aerosols, and clouds and makes data available in a more accessible format.
Kavitha Mottungan, Chayan Roychoudhury, Vanessa Brocchi, Benjamin Gaubert, Wenfu Tang, Mohammad Amin Mirrezaei, John McKinnon, Yafang Guo, David W. T. Griffith, Dietrich G. Feist, Isamu Morino, Mahesh K. Sha, Manvendra K. Dubey, Martine De Mazière, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Paul O. Wennberg, Ralf Sussmann, Rigel Kivi, Tae-Young Goo, Voltaire A. Velazco, Wei Wang, and Avelino F. Arellano Jr.
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5861–5885, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5861-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5861-2024, 2024
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A combination of data analysis techniques is introduced to separate local and regional influences on observed levels of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane from an established ground-based remote sensing network. We take advantage of the covariations in these trace gases to identify the dominant type of sources driving these levels. Applying these methods in conjunction with existing approaches to other datasets can better address uncertainties in identifying sources and sinks.
Jonathan F. Dooley, Kenneth Minschwaner, Manvendra K. Dubey, Sahar H. El Abbadi, Evan D. Sherwin, Aaron G. Meyer, Emily Follansbee, and James E. Lee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5091–5111, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5091-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5091-2024, 2024
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Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas originating from both natural and human activities. We describe a new uncrewed aerial system (UAS) designed to measure methane emission rates over a wide range of scales. This system has been used for direct quantification of point sources and distributed emitters over scales of up to 1 km. The system uses simultaneous measurements of methane and ethane to distinguish between different kinds of natural and human-related emission sources.
Zihan Zhu, Javier González-Rocha, Yifan Ding, Isis Frausto-Vicencio, Sajjan Heerah, Akula Venkatram, Manvendra Dubey, Don Collins, and Francesca M. Hopkins
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3883–3895, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3883-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3883-2024, 2024
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Increases in agriculture, oil and gas, and waste management activities have contributed to the increase in atmospheric methane levels and resultant climate warming. In this paper, we explore the use of small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUASs) and AirCore technology to detect and quantify methane emissions. Results from field experiments demonstrate that sUASs and AirCore technology can be effective for detecting and quantifying methane emissions in near real time.
Ryan N. Farley, James E. Lee, Laura-Hélèna Rivellini, Alex K. Y. Lee, Rachael Dal Porto, Christopher D. Cappa, Kyle Gorkowski, Abu Sayeed Md Shawon, Katherine B. Benedict, Allison C. Aiken, Manvendra K. Dubey, and Qi Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3953–3971, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3953-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3953-2024, 2024
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The black carbon aerosol composition and mixing state were characterized using a soot particle aerosol mass spectrometer. Single-particle measurements revealed the major role of atmospheric processing in modulating the black carbon mixing state. A significant fraction of soot particles were internally mixed with oxidized organic aerosol and sulfate, with implications for activation as cloud nuclei.
Michaela Mühl, Jochen Schmitt, Barbara Seth, James E. Lee, Jon S. Edwards, Edward J. Brook, Thomas Blunier, and Hubertus Fischer
Clim. Past, 19, 999–1025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-999-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-999-2023, 2023
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Our ice core measurements show that methane, ethane, and propane concentrations are significantly elevated above their past atmospheric background for Greenland ice samples containing mineral dust. The underlying co-production process happens during the classical discrete wet extraction of air from the ice sample and affects previous reconstructions of the inter-polar difference of methane as well as methane stable isotope records derived from dust-rich Greenland ice.
Isis Frausto-Vicencio, Sajjan Heerah, Aaron G. Meyer, Harrison A. Parker, Manvendra Dubey, and Francesca M. Hopkins
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4521–4543, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4521-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4521-2023, 2023
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Wildfires are increasing in the western USA, making it critical to understand the impacts of greenhouse gases and air pollutants on the atmosphere. We used a ground-based remote sensing technique to measure the greenhouse gases and aerosol in the atmosphere. We isolate a large smoke plume from a nearby wildfire and calculate variables to understand the fuel properties and combustion phases. We find that a significant amount of methane is emitted from the 2020 California wildfire season.
Brendan Byrne, David F. Baker, Sourish Basu, Michael Bertolacci, Kevin W. Bowman, Dustin Carroll, Abhishek Chatterjee, Frédéric Chevallier, Philippe Ciais, Noel Cressie, David Crisp, Sean Crowell, Feng Deng, Zhu Deng, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Manvendra K. Dubey, Sha Feng, Omaira E. García, David W. T. Griffith, Benedikt Herkommer, Lei Hu, Andrew R. Jacobson, Rajesh Janardanan, Sujong Jeong, Matthew S. Johnson, Dylan B. A. Jones, Rigel Kivi, Junjie Liu, Zhiqiang Liu, Shamil Maksyutov, John B. Miller, Scot M. Miller, Isamu Morino, Justus Notholt, Tomohiro Oda, Christopher W. O'Dell, Young-Suk Oh, Hirofumi Ohyama, Prabir K. Patra, Hélène Peiro, Christof Petri, Sajeev Philip, David F. Pollard, Benjamin Poulter, Marine Remaud, Andrew Schuh, Mahesh K. Sha, Kei Shiomi, Kimberly Strong, Colm Sweeney, Yao Té, Hanqin Tian, Voltaire A. Velazco, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Thorsten Warneke, John R. Worden, Debra Wunch, Yuanzhi Yao, Jeongmin Yun, Andrew Zammit-Mangion, and Ning Zeng
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 963–1004, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-963-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-963-2023, 2023
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Changes in the carbon stocks of terrestrial ecosystems result in emissions and removals of CO2. These can be driven by anthropogenic activities (e.g., deforestation), natural processes (e.g., fires) or in response to rising CO2 (e.g., CO2 fertilization). This paper describes a dataset of CO2 emissions and removals derived from atmospheric CO2 observations. This pilot dataset informs current capabilities and future developments towards top-down monitoring and verification systems.
Joshua L. Laughner, Sébastien Roche, Matthäus Kiel, Geoffrey C. Toon, Debra Wunch, Bianca C. Baier, Sébastien Biraud, Huilin Chen, Rigel Kivi, Thomas Laemmel, Kathryn McKain, Pierre-Yves Quéhé, Constantina Rousogenous, Britton B. Stephens, Kaley Walker, and Paul O. Wennberg
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1121–1146, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1121-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1121-2023, 2023
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Observations using sunlight to measure surface-to-space total column of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere need an initial guess of the vertical distribution of those gases to start from. We have developed an approach to provide those initial guess profiles that uses readily available meteorological data as input. This lets us make these guesses without simulating them with a global model. The profiles generated this way match independent observations well.
Luke D. Schiferl, Jennifer D. Watts, Erik J. L. Larson, Kyle A. Arndt, Sébastien C. Biraud, Eugénie S. Euskirchen, Jordan P. Goodrich, John M. Henderson, Aram Kalhori, Kathryn McKain, Marikate E. Mountain, J. William Munger, Walter C. Oechel, Colm Sweeney, Yonghong Yi, Donatella Zona, and Róisín Commane
Biogeosciences, 19, 5953–5972, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5953-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-5953-2022, 2022
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As the Arctic rapidly warms, vast stores of thawing permafrost could release carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. We combined observations of atmospheric CO2 concentrations from aircraft and a tower with observed CO2 fluxes from tundra ecosystems and found that the Alaskan North Slope in not a consistent source nor sink of CO2. Our study shows the importance of using both site-level and atmospheric measurements to constrain regional net CO2 fluxes and improve biogenic processes in models.
Joshin Kumar, Theo Paik, Nishit J. Shetty, Patrick Sheridan, Allison C. Aiken, Manvendra K. Dubey, and Rajan K. Chakrabarty
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4569–4583, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4569-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4569-2022, 2022
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Accurate long-term measurement of aerosol light absorption is vital for assessing direct aerosol radiative forcing. Light absorption by aerosols at the US Department of Energy long-term climate monitoring SGP site is measured using the Particle Soot Absorption Photometer (PSAP), which suffers from artifacts and biases difficult to quantify. Machine learning offers a promising path forward to correct for biases in the long-term absorption dataset at the SGP site and similar Class-I areas.
Adam S. Wise, James M. T. Neher, Robert S. Arthur, Jeffrey D. Mirocha, Julie K. Lundquist, and Fotini K. Chow
Wind Energ. Sci., 7, 367–386, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-367-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/wes-7-367-2022, 2022
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Wind turbine wake behavior in hilly terrain depends on various atmospheric conditions. We modeled a wind turbine located on top of a ridge in Portugal during typical nighttime and daytime atmospheric conditions and validated these model results with observational data. During nighttime conditions, the wake deflected downwards following the terrain. During daytime conditions, the wake deflected upwards. These results can provide insight into wind turbine siting and operation in hilly regions.
Thomas E. Taylor, Christopher W. O'Dell, David Crisp, Akhiko Kuze, Hannakaisa Lindqvist, Paul O. Wennberg, Abhishek Chatterjee, Michael Gunson, Annmarie Eldering, Brendan Fisher, Matthäus Kiel, Robert R. Nelson, Aronne Merrelli, Greg Osterman, Frédéric Chevallier, Paul I. Palmer, Liang Feng, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Manvendra K. Dubey, Dietrich G. Feist, Omaira E. García, David W. T. Griffith, Frank Hase, Laura T. Iraci, Rigel Kivi, Cheng Liu, Martine De Mazière, Isamu Morino, Justus Notholt, Young-Suk Oh, Hirofumi Ohyama, David F. Pollard, Markus Rettinger, Matthias Schneider, Coleen M. Roehl, Mahesh Kumar Sha, Kei Shiomi, Kimberly Strong, Ralf Sussmann, Yao Té, Voltaire A. Velazco, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Thorsten Warneke, and Debra Wunch
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 325–360, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-325-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-325-2022, 2022
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We provide an analysis of an 11-year record of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations derived using an optimal estimation retrieval algorithm on measurements made by the GOSAT satellite. The new product (version 9) shows improvement over the previous version (v7.3) as evaluated against independent estimates of CO2 from ground-based sensors and atmospheric inversion systems. We also compare the new GOSAT CO2 values to collocated estimates from NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2.
Nicole Jacobs, William R. Simpson, Kelly A. Graham, Christopher Holmes, Frank Hase, Thomas Blumenstock, Qiansi Tu, Matthias Frey, Manvendra K. Dubey, Harrison A. Parker, Debra Wunch, Rigel Kivi, Pauli Heikkinen, Justus Notholt, Christof Petri, and Thorsten Warneke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16661–16687, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16661-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16661-2021, 2021
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Spatial patterns of carbon dioxide seasonal cycle amplitude and summer drawdown timing derived from the OCO-2 satellite over northern high latitudes agree well with corresponding estimates from two models. The Asian boreal forest is anomalous with the largest amplitude and earliest seasonal drawdown. Modeled land contact tracers suggest that accumulated CO2 exchanges during atmospheric transport play a major role in shaping carbon dioxide seasonality in northern high-latitude regions.
Taylor S. Jones, Jonathan E. Franklin, Jia Chen, Florian Dietrich, Kristian D. Hajny, Johannes C. Paetzold, Adrian Wenzel, Conor Gately, Elaine Gottlieb, Harrison Parker, Manvendra Dubey, Frank Hase, Paul B. Shepson, Levi H. Mielke, and Steven C. Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13131–13147, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13131-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13131-2021, 2021
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Methane emissions from leaks in natural gas pipes are often a large source in urban areas, but they are difficult to measure on a city-wide scale. Here we use an array of innovative methane sensors distributed around the city of Indianapolis and a new method of combining their data with an atmospheric model to accurately determine the magnitude of these emissions, which are about 70 % larger than predicted. This method can serve as a framework for cities trying to account for their emissions.
Sébastien Roche, Kimberly Strong, Debra Wunch, Joseph Mendonca, Colm Sweeney, Bianca Baier, Sébastien C. Biraud, Joshua L. Laughner, Geoffrey C. Toon, and Brian J. Connor
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3087–3118, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3087-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3087-2021, 2021
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We evaluate CO2 profile retrievals from ground-based near-infrared solar absorption spectra after implementing several improvements to the GFIT2 retrieval algorithm. Realistic errors in the a priori temperature profile (~ 2 °C in the lower troposphere) are found to be the leading source of differences between the retrieved and true CO2 profiles, differences that are larger than typical CO2 variability. A temperature retrieval or correction is critical to improve CO2 profile retrieval results.
Lawrence I. Kleinman, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Kouji Adachi, Peter R. Buseck, Sonya Collier, Manvendra K. Dubey, Anna L. Hodshire, Ernie Lewis, Timothy B. Onasch, Jeffery R. Pierce, John Shilling, Stephen R. Springston, Jian Wang, Qi Zhang, Shan Zhou, and Robert J. Yokelson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13319–13341, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13319-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13319-2020, 2020
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Aerosols from wildfires affect the Earth's temperature by absorbing light or reflecting it back into space. This study investigates time-dependent chemical, microphysical, and optical properties of aerosols generated by wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, USA. Wildfire smoke plumes were traversed by an instrumented aircraft at locations near the fire and up to 3.5 h travel time downwind. Although there was no net aerosol production, aerosol particles grew and became more efficient scatters.
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Short summary
Orphaned wells, meaning wells lacking responsible owners, pose a significant and poorly understood environmental challenge. We propose, develop and test a novel method for estimating emissions from orphaned wells using a forced advection sampling technique (FAST) that can overcome many of the limitations in current methods (cost, accuracy, safety). Our results suggest that the FAST method can provide a low-cost alternative to existing methods over a range of leak rates.
Orphaned wells, meaning wells lacking responsible owners, pose a significant and poorly...
