INSPIRE: A Data-Driven Approach toward Exploring Natural and Anthropogenic Methane Emissions in Regions of Shale Gas Development

这个INSPIRE项目解决了大容量水力压裂（也称为水力压裂）及其对地下水资源的影响问题。水力压裂法使钻探者能够从地球深处的页岩中提取天然气。甲烷气体有时会从页岩气威尔斯井中逸出，并可能污染水资源或泄漏到大气中，从而导致温室气体排放。监测这些潜在的泄漏是困难的，因为甲烷也会自然释放到含水层中，而且监测是时间和资源密集型的。这种地下泄漏也可能相对罕见。该项目旨在利用计算机科学和地球科学的进步，提高对天然气钻探影响的全面认识，并向公众宣传这些影响。该项目将阐明页岩气开发等人类活动以及将甲烷释放到天然沃茨的自然过程的影响。拟议研究的结果将导致更好地了解页岩气开发地区的水质，并将突出问题和潜在的问题管理做法。这项研究将推动地球科学和计算机科学领域的发展，培养跨学科的研究生，并让公民科学家参与收集数据和理解环境数据分析。该项目将新的水文地球化学战略和数据挖掘方法结合起来，研究甲烷释放到河流和地下沃茨中的情况。例如，研究人员将探索如何分析描述天然沃茨中甲烷浓度分布的异质空间数据。该项目的目标是：一）转变测量溪流中甲烷的能力;二）培训公民科学家与项目科学家合作，在页岩气开发领域对溪流进行采样，并发布天然沃茨和含水层中甲烷的大量数据集;三）创新环境数据的数据挖掘和机器学习方法，以确定可能泄漏的异常点; iv）开展实地活动，测量这些地点水样的甲烷浓度和同位素特征; v）促进目标地区内外的非科学家、顾问、大学科学家、天然气行业成员、政府机构和非营利组织之间的对话。为此，该团队将举办研讨会，旨在建立利益相关者之间的对话，并将发布用于环境测量的数据分析软件，以使更广泛的研究界受益。

This INSPIRE project addresses the issue of high volume hydraulic fracturing, also called fracking, and its effects on ground water resources. Fracking allows drillers to extract natural gas from shale deep within the earth. Methane gas sometimes escapes from shale gas wells and can contaminate water resources or leak into the atmosphere where it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Monitoring for these potential leaks is difficult because methane is also released into aquifers naturally, and because monitoring is time- and resource-intensive. Such subsurface leakage may also be relatively rare. This project seeks to improve overall understanding of the impacts of natural gas drilling using both advances in computer science and geoscience, and to teach the public about such impacts. The project will elucidate both the effects of human activities such as shale gas development as well as natural processes which release methane into natural waters. Results of the proposed research will lead to a better understanding of water quality in areas of shale-gas development and will highlight problems and potentially problematic management practices. The research will advance both the fields of geoscience and computer science, will train interdisciplinary graduate students, and involve citizen scientists in collecting data and understanding environmental data analysis. The project combines new hydro-geochemical strategies and data mining approaches to study the release of methane into streams and ground waters. For example, researchers will explore how to analyze the heterogeneous spatial data that describe distributions of methane concentrations in natural waters. The objectives of this project are to i) transform the ability to measure methane in streams; ii) train citizen scientists to work with project scientists to sample streams in an area of shale-gas development and publish large-volume datasets of methane in natural waters and aquifers; iii) innovate data mining and machine learning methods for environmental data to identify anomalous spots with potential leakage; iv) run field campaigns to measure methane concentrations and isotopic signatures of water samples in these spots; v) foster dialogue among nonscientists, consultants, university scientists, members of the gas industry, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations in and beyond the target region. Toward this end, the team will host workshops aimed to build dialogue among stakeholders and will release data analytic software for environmental measurements to benefit a broader research community.