Black Carbon Emissions from the Bakken Oil and Gas Development Region

Abstract

Black carbon (BC) emission rates from the Bakken oil-producing region of North Dakota have been quantified with a NOAA airborne single-particle soot photometer (SP2). Flights in May 2014 led to six measurements of the BC emission rate in the region. Oil and gas operations (associated flaring, diesel engines associated with pumping and drilling, and oil production-related transport), limited agricultural burning, and sparse urban/transport sector activity contribute to these emissions. The BC emission rate was 1400 ± 360 t year–1, implying that Bakken production activities are unlikely to contribute to large-scale biases in estimates of BC emissions. An upper limit on the BC emission factor from flaring based on these observations is 0.57 ± 0.14 g/m–3. Flaring BC was not associated with optically significant internally mixed non-BC material or with significant emissions of non-BC-containing primary aerosol. BC in the outflow from the region was also generally externally mixed.