Research
Highlighted Work
Tracking U.S. emissions of sulfuryl fluoride, a potent greenhouse gas
We used atmospheric measurements of sulfuryl fluoride from the NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory to map out where the largest emissions in the U.S. were coming from.
We saw the largest emissions from California, and especially southern California, where sulfuryl fluoride is used as a fumigant for drywood termites and agricultural products.
This is significant because sulfuryl fluoride is a long-lived greenhouse gas (GHG), ~5000 times more potent than CO2 per ton, yet it is not included in California state or national GHG inventories.
Our work makes a case for including sulfuryl fluoride in future GHG emissions inventories and accounting protocol, and for considering alternative pest control methods to curb global sulfuryl fluoride emissions.
Read our paper here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-024-01294-x (Gaeta et al., 2024)
Map of atmospheric observing network and footprints (sensitivity of measurements to emissions upwind).
Map of sulfuryl fluoride emissions across the U.S., estimated from atmospheric measurements. The largest emissions are from California.
Building a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory for the City of Baltimore
The Johns Hopkins Greenhouse Gas Research Group partnered with the Baltimore Office of Sustainability to build a GHG emissions inventory for Baltimore.
We calculated city-wide Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions using the Global Protocol for Community-Scale Greenhouse Gas Emission Inventories (GPC) guide.
We estimated emissions for years 2017 through 2020, as well as for the baseline year 2007 (when the city first commited to GHG emissions reductions).
We found that while Baltimore had made significant progress towards GHG emissions reductions, additional decarbonaization efforts will be required for the city to hit it's net-zero GHG emissions by 2045 target.
Our GHG inventory was used for GHG emissions reporting to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), LEED for Cities and Communities, and ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability. It is also being used to inform sustainability decisions and GHG emissions targets in the Baltimore Climate Action Plan.
Trends in the mix of energy sources that supply electricity to Baltimore from 2007-2020.
Summary of Baltimore's emissions by sector and sub-sector. Stationary Energy (i.e., electricity and natural gas consumption) is the largest source of emissions, followed by Transportation and Waste. Within the Stationary Energy sector, ~2/3rds of emissions are from industrial/commercial activities, while only ~1/3rd is from residential energy consumption.
Stay tuned for more updates!
Publications
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
California dominates U.S. emissions of the pesticide and potent greenhouse gas sulfuryl fluoride. D.C. Gaeta, J. Mühle, I.J. Vimont, M. Crotwell, L. Hu, J.B. Miller, K. McKain, B.C. Baier, M. Zhang, J. Bao, B.R. Miller, and S.M. Miller. Communications Earth & Environment (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01294-x
U.S. ethane emissions and trends estimated from atmospheric observations. M. Zhang, I.J. Vimont, S. Jordaan, L. Hu, K. McKain, M. Crotwell, D.C. Gaeta, S.M. Miller. Environmental Science & Technology (2024). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c00380
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) and in situ CO2 data suggest a larger seasonal amplitude of the terrestrial carbon cycle compared to many dynamic global vegetation models. R. Lei, J. Poe, D. Huntzinger, J. Liu, S. Stich, D.F. Baker, L. Feng, D.C. Gaeta, Z. Huang, S.M. Miller. Remote Sensing of Environment (2024). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2024.114326
Inter-Annual Variability in Atmospheric Transport Complicates Estimation of US Methane Emissions Trends. L. Feng, S. Tavakkoli, S.M. Jordaan, A.E. Andrews, J.S. Benmergui, D.W. Waugh, M. Zhang, D.C. Gaeta, and S.M. Miller. Geophysical Research Letters (2023). https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL100366
Other Works
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory for the City of Baltimore, 2018-2020. D.C. Gaeta, J. Alumbro, K. Negandhi, C. Liang, D. Moon, S.M. Miller. Report prepared for the Baltimore Office of Sustainability (2022). https://www.baltimoresustainability.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2020_Baltimore_GHG_inventory_v2.pdf
City of Baltimore 2017 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory Report. D.C. Gaeta, K. Negandhi, C. Liang, M. Kleckner, and S.M. Miller. Report prepared for the Baltimore Office of Sustainability (2020). https://www.baltimoresustainability.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/2017_Baltimore_Inventory_v5-1.pdf
An Adjoint Trajectory Model of the Perturbed Carbon Cycle. D.C. Gaeta (2018). Knowledge@UChicago (M.S. Thesis). https://doi.org/10.6082/uchicago.3551
