Airborne Measurements of Ethene from Industrial Sources Using Laser Photo-Acoustic Spectroscopy
Journal article, 2009
A laser photoacoustic spectroscopy (LPAS) instrument was developed and used for aircraft measurements of ethene from industrial sources near Houston, Texas. The instrument provided 20 s measurements with a detection limit of less than 0.7 ppbv. Data from this instrument and from the GC-FID analysis of air samples collected in flight agreed within 15% on average. Ethene fluxes from the Mt. Belvieu chemical complex to the northeast of Houston were quantified during 10 different flights. The average flux was 520 +/- 140 kg h(-1) in agreement with independent results from solar occultation flux (SOF) measurements, and roughly an order of magnitude higher than regulatory emission inventories indicate. This study shows that ethene emissions are routinely at levels that qualify as emission upsets, which need to be reported to regional air quality managers.
texas
emissions
organic-compounds
ozone formation
houston
Author
J. A. De Gouw
University of Colorado at Boulder
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
S. T. L. Hekkert
Sensor Sense
Johan Mellqvist
Chalmers, Department of Radio and Space Science, Optical Remote Sensing
C. Warneke
University of Colorado at Boulder
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
E. Atlas
University of Miami
F. C. Fehsenfeld
University of Colorado at Boulder
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
A. Fried
National Center for Atmospheric Research
G. J. Frost
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
University of Colorado at Boulder
F. J. M. Harren
Radboud University
J. S. Holloway
University of Colorado at Boulder
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
B. Lefer
University of Houston
R. Lueb
University of Miami
J. F. Meagher
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
D. D. Parrish
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
M. Patel
University of Houston
L. Pope
University of Miami
D. Richter
National Center for Atmospheric Research
Claudia Rivera
Chalmers, Department of Radio and Space Science, Optical Remote Sensing
T. B. Ryerson
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Jerker Samuelsson
Chalmers, Department of Radio and Space Science, Optical Remote Sensing
J. G. Walega
National Center for Atmospheric Research
R. A. Washenfelder
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
University of Colorado at Boulder
P. Weibring
National Center for Atmospheric Research
X. Zhu
University of Miami
Environmental Science & Technology
0013-936X (ISSN) 1520-5851 (eISSN)
Vol. 43 7 2437-2442Subject Categories
Other Environmental Engineering
DOI
10.1021/es802701a