Atmospheric tomography: a Bayesian inversion technique for determining the rate and location of fugitive emissions

A Bayesian inversion technique to determine the location and strength of trace gas emissions from a point source in open air is presented. It was tested using atmospheric measurements of N(2)O and CO(2) released at known rates from a source located within an array of eight evenly spaced sampling points on a 20-m radius circle. The analysis requires knowledge of concentration enhancement downwind of the source and the normalized, three-dimensional distribution (shape) of concentration in the dispersion plume. The influence of varying background concentrations of ∼1% for N(2)O and ∼10% for CO(2) was removed by subtracting upwind concentrations from those downwind of the source to yield only concentration enhancements. Continuous measurements of turbulent wind and temperature statistics were used to model the dispersion plume. The analysis localized the source to within 0.8 m of the true position and the emission rates were determined to better than 3% accuracy. This technique will be useful in assurance monitoring for geological storage of CO(2) and for applications requiring knowledge of the location and rate of fugitive emissions.