FORM is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie funded project that aims at the source characterisation of methane emissions.
With FORM I will develop and apply a novel tool to investigate methane (CH4) sources and
estimate their emissions through the measurement and modelling of radiocarbon (14C) in atmospheric methane.
Why Methane
Methane is the second most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas but emissions, and particularly their attribution to specific sources, are not well-constrained. 14C measurements provide the most accurate way of identifying fossil fuel-derived methane (from natural gas leaks, coal mining, and petroleum refining) vs biogenic methane (agriculture, waste and wetlands).
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Why Radiocarbon
Fossil carbon has lost all 14C after millions of years of radioactive decay during burial underground and it is entirely depleted in 14C. When emitted into the atmosphere, fossil-derived methane will cause a strong decrease into the atmospheric ratio of radiocarbon to total carbon in methane (Δ14CH4). By measuring variations of this ratio, the fossil fraction of methane emissions can be quantified.
A unique method for radiocarbon analysis of atmospheric methane
Despite their incredible usefulness, there are presently very few radiocarbon measurements of atmospheric methane made anywhere in the world, because there is no available system for sampling atmospheric methane for radiocarbon analysis that is easy-to-use and versatile. To address this challenge I developed a unique sampling method for high precision Δ14CH4 measurements. The sampling system is currently a laboratory prototype. To realize its potential, I will further develop the system at the Laboratory of Ion Beam Physics (LIP) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), in collaboration with Dr Lukas Wacker. I will make Δ14CH4 measurements easier to perform, ultimately enabling systematic Δ14CH4 measurements to be produced.