Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41880510›Full record

ArticleScience advances2026

Quantifying urban and landfill methane emissions in the United States using TROPOMI satellite data.

Xiaolin Wang, Daniel J Jacob, Hannah Nesser, Nicholas Balasus, Lucas A Estrada, Melissa P Sulprizio, Daniel H Cusworth, Tia R Scarpelli, Zichong Chen, James D East and 1 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Science advances, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors.

Xiaolin WangSchool of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6772-0350
Daniel J JacobSchool of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-6373-3100
Hannah NesserJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91011, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6778-037X
Nicholas BalasusSchool of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.ORCID 0009-0003-4825-8414
Lucas A EstradaSchool of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-7823-147X
Melissa P SulprizioSchool of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-4641-5546
Daniel H CusworthCarbon Mapper, Pasadena, CA 91101, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-0158-977X
Tia R ScarpelliCarbon Mapper, Pasadena, CA 91101, USA.ORCID 0009-0001-8783-917X
Zichong ChenSchool of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-2779-1554
James D EastSchool of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-7199-6229
Daniel J VaronDepartment of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-3207-5731

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Urban areas are major sources of population-driven methane with high potential for mitigation, but emission quantification and sectoral attribution remain uncertain. Using satellite observations and a high-resolution (12 kilometers by 12 kilometers) atmospheric inversion framework, we find that emissions from 12 major US urban areas are 80% higher than the US Environmental Protection Agency Greenhouse Gas Inventory (EPA GHGI), with up to four times higher emissions in Houston but 32 to 37% lower emissions in Los Angeles and Cincinnati. Landfills are the principal cause of inventory underestimates, with city-level management practices driving large variations in per capita emissions. Examination of individual landfills with gas collection systems shows gas collection efficiencies averaging 38% (range: 5 to 90%), much lower than their reported average of 70% (range: 40 to 87%). An exception is Los Angeles, where we find landfill gas collection averaging 85%, suggesting large urban methane mitigation potential through improved landfill management.

Identifiers

PMID41880510
PMCPMC13015886

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.