Studying methane emission in the north of Western Siberia

Methane emitted into the atmosphere from sources located in the Urengoi natural gas field is estimated from direct methane concentration measurements in the atmospheric boundary layer and modeling. The results of direct profile measurements in the summer-fall season of 2003 are generalized versus the data from the previous field studies and background monitoring of greenhouse gases in the northern polar region. The use of models for calculating the intensity of emission from sources located in the field area together with a set of methane concentration measurements at three altitudes allowed the authors to develop a method of verification of emission from a specific source, a deposit. The method estimates the emission both from part of the field area and from the whole field with an irregular distribution of the intensity of sources across the deposit area.