Continuous methane isotopic measurements across European sites
Jacoline van Es
My project is part of the Paris-horizon project. This is a European project, focussing on several climate forcers. It performs all kind of measurements and models to improve the inventories of the greenhouse gasses. Methane (CH4) is becoming an increasingly interesting greenhouse gas. It is only 2 parts per million (ppm) in the air, but due to methanes strong global warming potential (GWP), it is the second most important greenhouse gas after CO2. This makes it relevent to reach the goals that were set by the Paris agreement and so for the overal paris project.
Methane is emitted by several sources, but after emission it is only one molecule. However, the different sources emit methane with a slightly different isotopic composistion. This makes that the sources can be separated via methane isotopic analysis. In my project I deploy a system that measure the isotopes of methane at several cites in Europe. We went to Cluj-Napoca, Romania for a 9-month campaign and will likely continue measurements at several other ICOS stations like: Monte Cimone (CMN) and Hegyhátsál (HUN).
Picture 1. The lab setup of the mobile system in Cluj-Napoca
Picture 2. Jacoline installing parts on the IRMS in Hegyhátsál
