The 2024 Airborne and Remote Sensing Methane and Air Pollutant Surveys (AiRMAPS) Campaign in Colorado and Utah

The Airborne and Remote Sensing Methane and Air Pollutant Surveys (AiRMAPS) is a 3-5 year initiative led by the NOAA Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) and National Environmental and Satellite Data Information Service (NESDIS) to comprehensively characterize U.S. emissions and impacts of methane and co-emitted air pollutants. The initiative partners with multiple federal agencies (NASA, NIST, EPA) as part of the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center, as well as state agencies, academic partners and other stakeholders. The 2024 AiRMAPS campaign consisted of two separate deployments in Colorado (June 28 - July 14) and Utah (July 15 – August 18). The Colorado campaign included a NOAA Twin Otter equipped with in-situ instruments and a Doppler lidar for 3-dimensional winds for boundary layer mass balance, a NASA-supported B-200 with the AVIRIS-3 imaging spectrometer for detailed methane mapping, three mobile laboratories driving at surface level, and images from the GHGSat spaceborne spectrometer. The Colorado campaign surveyed oil and gas, agricultural, landfill and urban emissions in the Denver-Julesburg basin and Denver metro area. The Utah campaign consisted of mass balance flights with a NOAA Twin Otter, three mobile laboratories and surface networks, mapping overflights of the NSF G-V aircraft with the MethaneAir instrument, and satellite overpasses of MethaneSat. This campaign included detailed surveys of the Salt Lake City urban area, and coordinated aircraft measurements in the Uinta Basin oil and gas producing region. State agencies in Colorado and Utah supported both campaigns and participated in planning and coordination of the measurements. This coordinated effort underscores the importance of interagency collaboration in addressing complex environmental challenges and advancing our understanding of emissions to inform mitigation strategies for climate change and air quality. This presentation will give an overview of these activities and highlight selected results and inter-comparisons from this multi-platform, multi-agency campaign in two U.S. regions.