This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Most natural gas leakage in Indianapolis likely originates from homes and other buildings, not exterior pipelines and large-scale distribution infrastructure that deliver the fossil fuel, according to Penn State researchers who assessed nearly a decade of data. Their observations could signal similar emissions patterns across U.S. cities and shape mitigation strategies, members of the team said.
They evaluated continuous measurements of methane, the main component of natural gas, across the Midwest city to estimate emissions from natural gas distribution. The analysis relied on a network of monitoring devices affixed to tall towers that informed one of the world's most detailed records of urban methane, the team wrote recently in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. Its replicable approach offers cities a reliable way to identify and measure emissions of methane—the second-most impactful greenhouse gas generated by humans—and to inform public policy on climate, said the researchers in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.
They estimated about 2% of all natural gas piped into Indianapolis is eventually leaked. Over 100 years, methane has 28 times greater impact than carbon dioxide in trapping radiation, according to data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and cited by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"Two percent leakage is massive from a climate standpoint," said lead author Zachary Barkley, an associate research professor in the Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science. He explained that the estimate represents a significant volume of uncounted emissions and outpaces an estimate of such leakage nationally. "Our findings add to indicators that more methane than imagined may be escaping into the atmosphere from U.S. cities, even cities with relatively modern distribution systems like Indianapolis." The research paper emerged from a roughly 15-year collaboration among the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Penn State and other partners including the University of Maryland.
Starting in 2011, NIST supported the installation of the extensive monitoring network in Indianapolis to quantify greenhouse gas emissions in an urban environment. Until its wind-down in 2025, the network of up to 12 tower-based instruments documented trace gases including carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane at heights up to 136 meters, or nearly 450 feet. The Indianapolis Flux Experiment—known as INFLUX—was designed from the start to create and strengthen models for quantifying carbon dioxide and methane released in urban environments.
Tower-based measurements represent one approach to monitoring emissions and can be used to test, for example, methods that rely on aircraft, drones or satellite-based indicators. Different methods of measurement have different strengths, and comparisons can establish confidence in the results. "The idea was to create methods that can measure and monitor urban greenhouse gas emissions," said Kenneth J.
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