A High-Resolution Inventory of Anthropogenic Methane Emissions in New York State

Anthropogenic sources of methane have become an important area of research in recent years, as subnational entities such as New York (NY) State mandate methane emission reductions to improve air quality and limit global warming. To facilitate modeling of regional methane emissions, we present an inventory of spatially disaggregated anthropogenic methane emissions in 2020 for NY at 100 m horizontal resolution and monthly temporal resolution. We distribute emissions for 82 source categories reported in statewide inventories from the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). This work compares favorably with existing gridded inventories including the New York City Urban Area inventory, but the NYSDEC and NYSERDA reports estimate total anthropogenic methane emissions that are 38 and 170% higher than the 2020 NY totals of the gridded Environmental Protection Agency inventory and version 8 of the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research inventory, respectively, primarily due to emissions from fossil fuels and landfills. Although some major anthropogenic sources of methane remain uncertain, this work is foundational for the local-scale analyses and modeling that will be necessary for NY and other subnational entities to achieve their emission reduction targets.