Quantifying methane emissions from United States landfills

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Cusworth, Daniel H.; Duren, Riley M.; Ayasse, Alana K.; Jiorle, Ralph; Howell, Katherine; Aubrey, Andrew; Green, Robert O.; Eastwood, Michael L.; Chapman, John W.; Thorpe, Andrew K.; Heckler, Joseph; Asner, Gregory P.; Smith, Mackenzie L.; Thoma, Eben; Krause, Max J.; Heins, Daniel; Thorneloe, Susan
• 署名单位: University of Arizona; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA); NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL); Arizona State University; Arizona State University-Tempe; United States Environmental Protection Agency
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-9404
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adi7735
• 发表日期: 2024-03-29
• 页码: 1499-1504
• 关键词: pressure; scale

摘要

Methane emissions from solid waste may represent a substantial fraction of the global anthropogenic budget, but few comprehensive studies exist to assess inventory assumptions. We quantified emissions at hundreds of large landfills across 18 states in the United States between 2016 and 2022 using airborne imaging spectrometers. Spanning 20% of open United States landfills, this represents the most systematic measurement-based study of methane point sources of the waste sector. We detected significant point source emissions at a majority (52%) of these sites, many with emissions persisting over multiple revisits (weeks to years). We compared these against independent contemporaneous in situ airborne observations at 15 landfills and established good agreement. Our findings indicate a need for long-term, synoptic-scale monitoring of landfill emissions in the context of climate change mitigation policy.