Meteorological Drivers of Permian Basin Methane Anomalies Derived from TROPOMI

Abstract

The launch of the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on the Sentinel-5 Precursor (S-5P) satellite has revolutionized pollution observations from space. The purpose of this study was to link spatiotemporal variations in TROPOMI methane (CH4) columns to meteorological flow patterns over the Permian Basin, the largest oil and second-largest natural gas producing region in the United States. Over a two-year period (1 December 2018–1 December 2020), the largest average CH4 enhancements were observed near and to the north and west of the primary emission regions. Four case study periods—two with moderate westerly winds associated with passing weather disturbances (8–15 March 2019 and 1 April–10 May 2019) and two other periods dominated by high pressure and low wind speeds (16–23 March 2019 and 24 September–9 October 2020)—were analyzed to better understand meteorological drivers of the variability in CH4. Meteorological observations and analyses combined with TROPOMI observations suggest that weakened transport out of the Basin during low wind speed periods contributes to CH4 enhancements throughout the Basin, while valley and slope flows may explain the observed western expansion of the Permian Basin CH4 anomaly.