Remote monitoring of air pollutant emissions from point sources by a mobile lidar/sodar system

This paper describes remote monitoring of air pollutant emissions by a mobile lidar (light detection and ranging)/ sodar (sound detection and ranging) system. First, measurements are carried out in the flue gas plume of a public power plant. The investigations focus mainly on quantifying SO2 emissions, but the uncertainties of such measurements are also emphasized. Furthermore, an example providing valuable data sets for the development and validation of plume dispersion models is outlined with measurements of the dilution of SO2 along the plume axis. Series of repeated determinations of SO2 emissions show a large variation in the obtained flux values, with moderate margins of error. Incomplete recording of the plume within the individual lidar scans, induced by strong looping movements of the flue gas plume, predominantly causes the variations of flux values. Therefore, the highest flux values determined are considered to be the most exact. This is verified by a comparison of measured fluxes with in situ measurements made by the plant operators. The results further indicate that lidar measurements illustrate the location and dimension of aerosol plumes better than the location and dimension of the plumes of gaseous compounds. The wind direction affecting the plume at any moment can be determined faster by lidar than by sodar because the latter requires much longer time intervals of signal averaging. Measurements show higher concentrations of SO2 compared with results from a Gaussian plume model for periods of less than 5 min after dispersion. The findings emphasize the suitability of remote sensing for detecting emissions and for investigating the propagation and dilution of air pollutant plumes.