26 May 2020
26 May 2020
Methane emissions from an oil sands tailings pond: A quantitative comparison of fluxes derived by different methods
- 1Air Quality Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Toronto, M3H 5T4, Canada
- 2Suncor Energy Inc., Calgary, T2P 3Y7, Canada
- anow at: Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 1A7, Canada
- 1Air Quality Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Toronto, M3H 5T4, Canada
- 2Suncor Energy Inc., Calgary, T2P 3Y7, Canada
- anow at: Department of Physics, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 1A7, Canada
Abstract. Tailings ponds in the Alberta Oil Sands Region are significant sources of fugitive emissions of methane to the atmosphere, but detailed knowledge on spatial and temporal variabilities is lacking due to limitations of the methods deployed under current regulatory compliance monitoring programs. To develop more robust and representative methods for quantifying these emissions, three micrometeorological flux methods were applied along with traditional flux chambers to determine fluxes over a 5-week period. Eddy covariance flux measurements provided the benchmark. A method is presented to directly calculate stability-corrected eddy diffusivities that can be applied to vertical gas profiles for gradient flux estimation. Gradient fluxes were shown to agree with eddy covariance within 7 %, and inverse dispersion model fluxes within 11 %, with an overall uncertainty of 28 % for the calculated mean flux. Fluxes were shown to have only a minor diurnal cycle (18 % variability) and to be mostly independent of wind speed, air and water surface temperatures. Flux chambers underestimated the fluxes by a factor of 2 in this particular campaign. These measurements indicate that the larger footprint of micrometeorological measurements results in more robust emission estimates representing the whole pond.
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Yuan You et al.


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RC1: 'Review amt-2020-116', Anonymous Referee #1, 05 Aug 2020
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AC1: 'Response to comments from Referee #1', Ralf Staebler, 20 Oct 2020
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AC1: 'Response to comments from Referee #1', Ralf Staebler, 20 Oct 2020
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RC2: 'Referee comment on “Methane emissions from an oil sands tailings pond: A quantitative comparison of fluxes derived by different methods” by You et al.', Kukka-Maaria Kohonen, 22 Sep 2020
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AC2: 'Response to comments from Referee #2', Ralf Staebler, 20 Oct 2020
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AC2: 'Response to comments from Referee #2', Ralf Staebler, 20 Oct 2020


-
RC1: 'Review amt-2020-116', Anonymous Referee #1, 05 Aug 2020
-
AC1: 'Response to comments from Referee #1', Ralf Staebler, 20 Oct 2020
-
AC1: 'Response to comments from Referee #1', Ralf Staebler, 20 Oct 2020
-
RC2: 'Referee comment on “Methane emissions from an oil sands tailings pond: A quantitative comparison of fluxes derived by different methods” by You et al.', Kukka-Maaria Kohonen, 22 Sep 2020
-
AC2: 'Response to comments from Referee #2', Ralf Staebler, 20 Oct 2020
-
AC2: 'Response to comments from Referee #2', Ralf Staebler, 20 Oct 2020
Yuan You et al.
Yuan You et al.
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