Boston Methane and Ethane Atmospheric Data with Emission Models

ORNL_CLOUD provides a dataset of atmospheric methane and ethane concentrations, prior emission models, and natural gas consumption for the Boston region. Measurements include hourly methane data from four sites from September 2012 to August 2013 and ethane data from one site for several months between 2012 and 2014. Spatial models cover an area of approximately 18,000 km² centered on Boston.

Use Cases

• Analyzing hourly methane concentration trends from four monitoring stations.
• Comparing measured atmospheric methane against prior sectoral flux models.
• Investigating the correlation between methane and ethane to identify natural gas leaks.
• Mapping reconstructed natural gas consumption across the Boston metropolitan area.
• Validating urban-scale methane emission inventories using continuous observational data.

Strengths

• Contains continuous, hourly methane measurements from four distinct locations over a full year.
• Includes co-located ethane measurements, which help distinguish natural gas sources from other methane emissions.
• Provides spatial models for prior emissions and gas consumption across an 18,000 km² region.

Limitations

• Column names and exact row counts are not provided by any source.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date, reporting both 2014-06-30 and 2026-03 13.
• Ethane measurement coverage is limited to one site and a non-continuous multi-month period.

Provenance

Source

ORNL_CLOUD

Collection Method

Continuous atmospheric measurements combined with spatial modeling.

Time Range

2012 to 2014

Freshness

2026 -03-13 18:25:25.286916

Geography

~18,000 km² area centered on Boston, Massachusetts, USA.