Volumetric IR Laser Monitoring for the Estimation of the Gas Emission Flux by Surface Sources: Method and Simulation Results

Abstract

A measurement approach is presented for estimating the gas emission flux by a surface source based on the use of infrared laser measurements along optical links. An ad hoc arrangement optical links surrounding the emission area allows one to measure gas concentration over a close surface corresponding to an air volume that covers the whole emission area. We show some simulation results of surface flux measurements assuming that the concentration measurements are made over five faces of a parallelepiped, while the sixth (bottom) face is the emission surface. We discuss some estimation results based on a stationary diffusion model applied to point sources where the air diffusion and transportation phenomena are due mainly to the horizontal wind.