Methane emission from dairy farm located in north of Heidelberg

The three major anthropogenic CH₄ (methane) sources in Germany are ruminants (53%), waste and waste water treatment (22%) and transport and storage of natural gas (25%). In order to quantify these emissions on a facility scale, we used a CH₄ analyser installed in vehicle. Mobile measurements are performed on regular campaigns including measurements of the concentration and isotopic composition of methane. During this study we visited  11 times a Dairy Farm in Weinheim, north of Heidelberg. The farm has a livestock of about 320 - 340 dairy cows with an average milk production of 29 l per cow and day. A biogas plant is located next to the cowshed. To determine the temporal and spatial variability of emissions, collected data are analysed with Gaussian plume model to obtain emissions from dairy cows and biogas plant. For each mobile measurements campaign, we analysed 10 -40  transects (driving the car forward and backward). The first estimations of the emissions  (cows and biogas included) shows strong variabilities and up to 8 times higher values, than expected when comparing to IPCC reported emission values for dairy cows . As our measurements represent the whole farm emission, including  biogas plant and liquid manure, we have to distinguish these sources and quantify the contribution of each. .