Oil and natural gas wells across the NASA ABoVE domain: fugitive methane emissions and broader environmental impacts
Abstract Arctic-boreal regions are experiencing major anthropogenic disturbances in addition to intensifying natural disturbance regimes as a consequence of climate change. Oil and natural gas (OG) activities are extensive in the Arctic-boreal region of western North America, a large portion of whic...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acbe52 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acbe52 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acbe52/pdf |
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crioppubl:10.1088/1748-9326/acbe52 2024-10-13T14:04:57+00:00 Oil and natural gas wells across the NASA ABoVE domain: fugitive methane emissions and broader environmental impacts Klotz, Louise A Sonnentag, Oliver Wang, Ziming Wang, Jonathan A Kang, Mary National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant Fonds de Recherche du Quebec – Nature et Technologies Etablissement de la releve professorale 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acbe52 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acbe52 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acbe52/pdf unknown IOP Publishing http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://iopscience.iop.org/info/page/text-and-data-mining Environmental Research Letters volume 18, issue 3, page 035008 ISSN 1748-9326 journal-article 2023 crioppubl https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acbe52 2024-09-23T04:16:51Z Abstract Arctic-boreal regions are experiencing major anthropogenic disturbances in addition to intensifying natural disturbance regimes as a consequence of climate change. Oil and natural gas (OG) activities are extensive in the Arctic-boreal region of western North America, a large portion of which is underlain by permafrost. The total number and distribution of OG wells and their potential fate remain unclear. Consequently, the collective impacts of OG wells on natural and cultural resources, human health and emissions of methane (CH 4 ), are poorly understood. Using public OG well databases, we analysed the distribution of OG wells drilled between 1984 and 2018 across the Core Domain of the NASA Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (‘ABoVE domain’). We identified 242 007 OG wells drilled as of 2018 in the ABoVE domain, of which almost two thirds are now inactive or abandoned OG wells. We found that annual drilling has increased from 269 to 8599 OG wells from 1984 to 2014 with around 1000, 700 and 1800 OG wells drilled annually in evergreen forest, deciduous forest and herbaceous land cover types, respectively. 65 588 OG well sites were underlain by permafrost in 2012. Fugitive CH 4 emissions from active and abandoned OG wells drilled in the Canadian portion of the ABoVE domain accounted for approximately 13% of the total anthropogenic CH 4 emissions in Canada in 2018. Our analysis identified OG wells as an anthropogenic disturbance in the ABoVE domain with potentially non-negligible consequences to local populations, ecosystems, and the climate system. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change Human health permafrost IOP Publishing Arctic Canada Environmental Research Letters 18 3 035008 |
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Abstract Arctic-boreal regions are experiencing major anthropogenic disturbances in addition to intensifying natural disturbance regimes as a consequence of climate change. Oil and natural gas (OG) activities are extensive in the Arctic-boreal region of western North America, a large portion of which is underlain by permafrost. The total number and distribution of OG wells and their potential fate remain unclear. Consequently, the collective impacts of OG wells on natural and cultural resources, human health and emissions of methane (CH 4 ), are poorly understood. Using public OG well databases, we analysed the distribution of OG wells drilled between 1984 and 2018 across the Core Domain of the NASA Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (‘ABoVE domain’). We identified 242 007 OG wells drilled as of 2018 in the ABoVE domain, of which almost two thirds are now inactive or abandoned OG wells. We found that annual drilling has increased from 269 to 8599 OG wells from 1984 to 2014 with around 1000, 700 and 1800 OG wells drilled annually in evergreen forest, deciduous forest and herbaceous land cover types, respectively. 65 588 OG well sites were underlain by permafrost in 2012. Fugitive CH 4 emissions from active and abandoned OG wells drilled in the Canadian portion of the ABoVE domain accounted for approximately 13% of the total anthropogenic CH 4 emissions in Canada in 2018. Our analysis identified OG wells as an anthropogenic disturbance in the ABoVE domain with potentially non-negligible consequences to local populations, ecosystems, and the climate system. |
author2 |
National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant Fonds de Recherche du Quebec – Nature et Technologies Etablissement de la releve professorale |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Klotz, Louise A Sonnentag, Oliver Wang, Ziming Wang, Jonathan A Kang, Mary |
spellingShingle |
Klotz, Louise A Sonnentag, Oliver Wang, Ziming Wang, Jonathan A Kang, Mary Oil and natural gas wells across the NASA ABoVE domain: fugitive methane emissions and broader environmental impacts |
author_facet |
Klotz, Louise A Sonnentag, Oliver Wang, Ziming Wang, Jonathan A Kang, Mary |
author_sort |
Klotz, Louise A |
title |
Oil and natural gas wells across the NASA ABoVE domain: fugitive methane emissions and broader environmental impacts |
title_short |
Oil and natural gas wells across the NASA ABoVE domain: fugitive methane emissions and broader environmental impacts |
title_full |
Oil and natural gas wells across the NASA ABoVE domain: fugitive methane emissions and broader environmental impacts |
title_fullStr |
Oil and natural gas wells across the NASA ABoVE domain: fugitive methane emissions and broader environmental impacts |
title_full_unstemmed |
Oil and natural gas wells across the NASA ABoVE domain: fugitive methane emissions and broader environmental impacts |
title_sort |
oil and natural gas wells across the nasa above domain: fugitive methane emissions and broader environmental impacts |
publisher |
IOP Publishing |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acbe52 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acbe52 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/acbe52/pdf |
geographic |
Arctic Canada |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Canada |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Human health permafrost |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Human health permafrost |
op_source |
Environmental Research Letters volume 18, issue 3, page 035008 ISSN 1748-9326 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://iopscience.iop.org/info/page/text-and-data-mining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acbe52 |
container_title |
Environmental Research Letters |
container_volume |
18 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
035008 |
_version_ |
1812810767620112384 |