2026-10-06T21:38:59Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/33972582 2026-09-23T10:21:55Z category_1 category_19 category_21 category_272 category_873 category_39 category_45 category_734 category_106 category_132 category_133 portal_63 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Understanding Trends in Methane Emissions from Landfills through Repeat Aerial Surveys Adithya Srikanth (22563599) Shannon Stokes (14034573) Shuting Yang (532494) Arvind P. Ravikumar (10946421) Biophysics Pharmacology Biotechnology Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified Ecology Sociology Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified Science Policy Infectious Diseases Plant Biology update reporting methods observe significant variability local rainfall events empirically predicted based bulk waste disposed 76028 ± 1437 53 ± 1 total landfill emissions per metric ton mean reported value lowest emissions intensity landfill emissions exists validate field measurements total annual emissions landfill methane emissions anthropogenic methane emissions methane emissions per year mean measurement higher emissions annual rate understanding trends systematic study spatiotemporal variation measured data independent method highest emitters findings underscore consistent across approximately 29 appalachian basin 81 %. Landfills contribute 18% of all anthropogenic methane emissions in the US. While prior work has shown that official inventories underestimate landfill methane emissions compared to measurements, no systematic study of the spatiotemporal variation in landfill emissions exists. In this work, we report on results from quarterly, source-resolved, aerial methane measurements across 46 landfills in the Appalachian Basin. While total landfill emissions were found to be consistent across all surveys, we observe significant variability in emissions from individual landfills, with total annual emissions of 76028 ± 1437 t per year. Local rainfall events up to a week before surveys resulted in approximately 29% higher emissions. We see that methane emissions can be empirically predicted based on the annual rate of bulk waste disposed, providing an independent method to validate field measurements. In addition, landfills with renewable natural gas facilities were the highest emitters but had the lowest emissions intensity (per metric ton of bulk waste disposed). We estimate a mean measurement-informed landfill gas collection efficiency of 53 ± 1.9%, significantly lower than the mean reported value of 81%. Our findings underscore the need to update reporting methods that account for measured data to improve the accuracy of landfill methane emissions. 2026-09-23T00:00:00Z Dataset Dataset 10.1021/acsestair.6c00089.s002 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Understanding_Trends_in_Methane_Emissions_from_Landfills_through_Repeat_Aerial_Surveys/33972582 CC BY-NC 4.0