Methane emissions from the 2015 Aliso Canyon blowout in Los Angeles, CA

• DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf2348
• Publication Date: 2016-02-26T04:23:35Z
• Authors: S. Conley; G. Franco; I. Faloona; D. R. Blake; J. Peischl; T. B. Ryerson
• Keywords: Climate Action; General Science & Technology; 13. Climate action; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

The magnitude of a major methane leak

The Aliso Canyon underground gas storage facility outside Los Angeles, CA, houses enormous natural gas reserves. One well at the site experienced a blowout in late October 2015 and began leaking gas until it was sealed in February 2016. Over the course of 13 flights in the region, Conley et al. sampled the air column and determined daily release rates of methane (a powerful greenhouse gas) and ethane throughout the leak. The methane release rates were nearly double that of the entire Los Angeles region combined. Thus, single vulnerabilities can have major implications for state and federal climate policy.

Science , this issue p. 1317