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Area Source Emission Measurements Using EPA OTM 10
Citation:
THOMA, E. D. Area Source Emission Measurements Using EPA OTM 10. In Proceedings, Symposium on Air Quality Management Methods and Technology, Chapel Hill, NC, November 03 - 06, 2008. Air & Waste Management Association, Pittsburgh, PA, NA, (2009).
Impact/Purpose:
symposium paper
Description:
Measurement of air pollutant emissions from area and non-point sources is an emerging environmental concern. Due to the spatial extent and non-homogenous nature of these sources, assessment of fugitive emissions using point sampling techniques can be difficult. To help address this issue, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a new test method in 2006 called "Optical remote sensing for emission characterization from non-point sources" (OTM 10), which describes direct measurement of pollutant mass emission flux from area sources using ground-based optical remote sensing. The technique utilizes open-path spectroscopic instrumentation to obtain path integrated pollutant concentration information along multiple plane-configured optical paths. The multi-path pollutant concentration data along with wind vector information are processed with a plane-integrating computer algorithm to yield a mass emission flux for the source.