Atmospheric Measurement Techniques
Atmospheric Measurement Techniques
AMT
Articles | Volume 18, issue 18
Articles | Volume 18, issue 18
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-4631-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-4631-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 18, issue 18
Research article
 | 
23 Sep 2025
Research article |  | 23 Sep 2025

Best practices and uncertainties in CH4 emission quantification: employing mobile measurements and Gaussian plume modelling at a biogas plant

Julia Beate Wietzel, Piotr Korben, Antje Hoheisel, and Martina Schmidt

Related authors

Measurement report: Isotopic composition of CH4 emitted from gas exploration sites in the Transylvanian Basin, Romania
Thomas Röckmann, Malika Menoud, Jacoline van Es, Carina van der Veen, Hossein Maazallahi, Pawel Jagoda, Jaroslav M. Necki, Jakub Bartyzel, Piotr Korben, Sara Defratyka, Martina Schmidt, Marius Corbu, Sebastian Iancu, Andreea Calcan, Magdalena Ardelean, Sorin Ghemulet, Cristian Pop, Andrei Radovici, Alexandru Mereuta, Horatiu Stefanie, and Calin Baciu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4461,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4461, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Six years of continuous carbon isotope composition measurements of methane in Heidelberg (Germany) – a study of source contributions and comparison to emission inventories
Antje Hoheisel and Martina Schmidt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2951–2969, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2951-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2951-2024, 2024
Short summary
Source apportionment of methane emissions from the Upper Silesian Coal Basin using isotopic signatures
Alina Fiehn, Maximilian Eckl, Julian Kostinek, Michał Gałkowski, Christoph Gerbig, Michael Rothe, Thomas Röckmann, Malika Menoud, Hossein Maazallahi, Martina Schmidt, Piotr Korbeń, Jarosław Neçki, Mila Stanisavljević, Justyna Swolkień, Andreas Fix, and Anke Roiger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15749–15765, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15749-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15749-2023, 2023
Short summary
An open-path observatory for greenhouse gases based on near-infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy
Tobias D. Schmitt, Jonas Kuhn, Ralph Kleinschek, Benedikt A. Löw, Stefan Schmitt, William Cranton, Martina Schmidt, Sanam N. Vardag, Frank Hase, David W. T. Griffith, and André Butz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 6097–6110, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6097-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-6097-2023, 2023
Short summary
Results of a long-term international comparison of greenhouse gas and isotope measurements at the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Observatory in Alert, Nunavut, Canada
Douglas E. J. Worthy, Michele K. Rauh, Lin Huang, Felix R. Vogel, Alina Chivulescu, Kenneth A. Masarie, Ray L. Langenfelds, Paul B. Krummel, Colin E. Allison, Andrew M. Crotwell, Monica Madronich, Gabrielle Pétron, Ingeborg Levin, Samuel Hammer, Sylvia Michel, Michel Ramonet, Martina Schmidt, Armin Jordan, Heiko Moossen, Michael Rothe, Ralph Keeling, and Eric J. Morgan
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5909–5935, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5909-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5909-2023, 2023
Short summary
More articles (6)

Cited articles

Abdel-Rahman, A.: On the Atmospheric Dispersion and Gaussian Plume Model, https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:20576080 (last access: 20 September 2025), 2008. 
Adams, P. W. R., Mezzullo, W. G., and McManus, M. C.: Biomass sustainability criteria: Greenhouse gas accounting issues for biogas and biomethane facilities, Energ Policy, 87, 95–109, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2015.08.031, 2015. 
Albertson, J. D., Harvey, T., Foderaro, G., Zhu, P., Zhou, X., Ferrari, S., Amin, M. S., Modrak, M., Brantley, H., and Thoma, E. D.: A Mobile Sensing Approach for Regional Surveillance of Fugitive Methane Emissions in Oil and Gas Production, Environ. Sci. Technol., 50, 2487, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b05059, 2016. 
Ars, S., Broquet, G., Yver Kwok, C., Roustan, Y., Wu, L., Arzoumanian, E., and Bousquet, P.: Statistical atmospheric inversion of local gas emissions by coupling the tracer release technique and local-scale transport modelling: a test case with controlled methane emissions, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 5017–5037, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-5017-2017, 2017. 
Bakkaloglu, S., Lowry, D., Fisher, R. E., France, J. L., Brunner, D., Chen, H., and Nisbet, E. G.: Quantification of methane emissions from UK biogas plants, Waste Manage, 124, 82–93, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2021.01.011, 2021. 
More articles (45)
Download
Short summary
Long-term measurements of CH4 emission rates at a biogas plant in Germany were performed for eight years using mobile measurements combined with a Gaussian plume model. The average CH4 emission rate of the biogas plant was 5.9 ± 0.5 kg CH4 h-1. To increase the accuracy of the emission rate calculations and harmonize the dataset, the methodology was evaluated through six controlled methane release experiments demonstrating an uncertainty lower than 30 %, following several recommendations.
Read more
Share