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Assessing fossil fuel CO_2 emissions in California using atmospheric observations and models

Graven, H. and Fischer, M. L. and Lueker, T and Jeong, S. and Guilderson, T. P. and Keeling, R. F. and Bambha, R. and Brophy, K. and Callahan, W. and Cui, X. and Frankenberg, C. and Gurney, K. R. and LaFranchi, B. W. and Lehman, S. J. and Michelsen, H. and Miller, J. B. and Newman, S. and Paplawsky, W. and Parazoo, N. C. and Sloop, C. and Walker, S. J. (2018) Assessing fossil fuel CO_2 emissions in California using atmospheric observations and models. Environmental Research Letters, 13 (6). Art. No. 065007. ISSN 1748-9326. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aabd43. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20181016-153901952

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Abstract

Analysis systems incorporating atmospheric observations could provide a powerful tool for validating fossil fuel CO_2 (ffCO_2) emissions reported for individual regions, provided that fossil fuel sources can be separated from other CO_2 sources or sinks and atmospheric transport can be accurately accounted for. We quantified ffCO_2 by measuring radiocarbon (^(14)C) in CO_2, an accurate fossil-carbon tracer, at nine observation sites in California for three months in 2014–15. There is strong agreement between the measurements and ffCO_2 simulated using a high-resolution atmospheric model and a spatiotemporally-resolved fossil fuel flux estimate. Inverse estimates of total in-state ffCO_2 emissions are consistent with the California Air Resources Board's reported ffCO_2 emissions, providing tentative validation of California's reported ffCO_2 emissions in 2014–15. Continuing this prototype analysis system could provide critical independent evaluation of reported ffCO_2 emissions and emissions reductions in California, and the system could be expanded to other, more data-poor regions.


Item Type:Article
Related URLs:
URLURL TypeDescription
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aabd43DOIArticle
ORCID:
AuthorORCID
Graven, H.0000-0003-3934-2502
Fischer, M. L.0000-0001-7956-2361
Jeong, S.0000-0003-2032-0127
Frankenberg, C.0000-0002-0546-5857
Gurney, K. R.0000-0001-9218-7164
Newman, S.0000-0003-0710-995X
Parazoo, N. C.0000-0002-4424-7780
Alternate Title:Assessing fossil fuel CO2 emissions in California using atmospheric observations and models
Additional Information:© 2018 The Author(s). Original content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. RECEIVED 24 January 2018. REVISED 2 April 2018. ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION 11 April 2018. PUBLISHED 31 May 2018. Focus on Carbon Monitoring Systems Research and Applications. This project was funded by NASA Carbon Monitoring System (NNX13AP33G and NNH13AW56I). Work at LBNL was conducted under US Department of Energy Contract No. DE-AC02-5CH11231. Work at LLNL was conducted under the auspices of the US Department of Energy contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. Measurements at WGC were supported by NOAA. H G acknowledges support from the European Commission through a Marie Curie Career Integration Grant. W Callahan and C Sloop are employed by Earth Networks, Inc., a commercial company that provides environmental monitoring services. S Afshar, R Dickau, S Rider, R Robles and T Walpert assisted with flask sampling. The California Air Resources Board provided access to the Sutter Buttes sampling site. G Turi provided CO_2 fluxes from the ROMS model, S R Kawa provided CO_2 fluxes from CASA-GFED3, and E Acuña-Yeomans assisted with nuclear power plant data. The authors acknowledge helpful discussions with T Arnold, E Campbell, B Croes, Y Hsu, L Iraci, J Kim, A Manning, M Whelan and D Wunch.
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
NASANNX13AP33G
NASANNH13AW56I
Department of Energy (DOE)DE-AC02-5CH11231
Department of Energy (DOE)DE-AC52-07NA27344
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)UNSPECIFIED
Marie Curie FellowshipUNSPECIFIED
Subject Keywords:carbon dioxide, fossil fuel emissions, California, atmospheric inversion, radiocarbon
Issue or Number:6
DOI:10.1088/1748-9326/aabd43
Record Number:CaltechAUTHORS:20181016-153901952
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20181016-153901952
Official Citation:H Graven et al 2018 Environ. Res. Lett. 13 065007
Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:90288
Collection:CaltechAUTHORS
Deposited By: George Porter
Deposited On:22 Oct 2018 14:32
Last Modified:12 Jul 2022 19:50

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