Inverting mobile lab spatial data to address atmospherically relevant questions

Abstract:

Mobile laboratory data offers unprecedented ground-level temporal and spatial resolution of several kinds of emission plumes. With clusters of dedicated chemical composition instruments at high time resolution and specificity, various compound ratios can be used to distinguish plume origins. When detailed wind measurements are also acquired, it is tempting to couple the composition data into inversion models to deduce source emission strengths.

Here, data from the Aerodyne Mobile Laboratory, operating in Houston Ship Channel during early 2015 is examined. Emission sources are identified and quantified using atmospheric dispersion simulations using Gaussian models and an advanced SCIPUFF (Second-order Closure Integrated Puff) model. Error in these inversions is estimated using controlled releases of inert tracers over similar terrain and weather conditions. Though the inversion methods will have uncertainty in the estimate of the emission strength, the sources are typically unambiguously identified.