Global budget of ethane and regional constraints on U.S. sources

Abstract

We use a 3‐D chemical transport model (the GEOS‐Chem CTM) to evaluate a global emission inventory for ethane (C 2 H 6 ), with a best estimate for the global source of 13 Tg yr −1 , 8.0 Tg yr −1 from fossil fuel production, 2.6 Tg yr −1 from biofuel, and 2.4 Tg yr −1 from biomass burning. About 80% of the source is emitted in the Northern Hemisphere. The model generally provides a reasonable and unbiased simulation of surface air observations, column measurements, and aircraft profiles worldwide, including patterns of geographical and seasonal variability. The main bias is a 20%–30% overestimate at European surface sites. Propagation of the C 2 H 6 seasonal signal from northern midlatitudes to the equatorial western Pacific and the southern tropics demonstrates the dominance of northern midlatitudes as a source of C 2 H 6 worldwide. Interhemispheric transport provides the largest C 2 H 6 source to the Southern Hemisphere (1.7 Tg yr −1 ), and southern biomass burning provides the other major source (1.0 Tg yr −1 ). The C 2 H 6 emission inventory for the United States from the Environmental Protection Agency (0.6 Tg yr −1 ) is considerably lower than our estimate constrained by extensive aircraft observations in the continental boundary layer (2.4 Tg yr −1 ). This appears to reflect a factor 7 underestimate in the fossil fuel source over the south‐central United States. Our estimate of C 2 H 6 emissions, together with observed ratios of CH 4 :C 2 H 6 , suggests that CH 4 emissions from energy production in the U.S. may be underestimated by as much as 50%–100%.