A portable remote methane detector using an InGaAsP DFB laser

A portable remote methane detector based on infrared-absorption spectroscopy using an InGaAsP distributed-feedback laser is described. This equipment transmits a laser beam and detects a fraction of the backscatter reflected from the target. From this, the detector thereby measures the integrated methane concentration between the detector and the target. The equipment operator can easily detect methane clouds at a distance by hand-scanning the laser beam. To achieve a high sensitivity of detection, wavelength-modulation spectroscopy is applied to the infrared-absorption measurement for methane. The wavelength of the light source is modulated at a frequency of 10 kHz, and the center wavelength is stabilized at the center of the 2₃ band R(3) line of methane (1.65372 m). When used with typical targets at distances up to 10 m, the detector has a detection limit of less than 5 ppm-m. To the best of the authors knowledge, the detector is the only hand-held product capable of remote methane detection. Recently, this novel equipment was commercially introduced into the Japanese market as a product named the Portable Remote Methane Detector (PRMD). Some PRMD units were in research use for detecting methane emissions from garbage landfills, although the PRMD was mainly developed for remote detection of leaks from natural gas pipelines. The author expects that the PRMD could become the standard equipment for field measurements of methane emissions from land.     

大气水汽同位素组成的短期变异特征

Stable isotopes of atmospheric water vapor reveal rich information on water movement and phase changes in the atmosphere. Here we presented two nearly continuous time-series of δD and δ18O of atmospheric water vapor (δv) measured at hourly intervals in surface air in Beijing and above a winter wheat canopy in Shijiazhuang using in-situ meas-urement technique. During the precipitation events, the δv values in both Beijing and Shiji-azhuang were in the state of equilibrium with precipitation water, revealing the influence of precipitation processes. However, the δv departures from the equilibrium state were positively correlated with local relative humidity. Note that the δv tended to enrich in Beijing, but deplete in Shijiazhuang during the precipitation events, which mainly resulted from the influence of transpiration processes that enriched the δv in Shijiazhuang. On seasonal time-scale, the δv values were log-linear functions of water vapor mixing ratios in both Beijing and Shijiazhuang. The water vapor mixing ratio was an excellent predictor of the δv by the Rayleigh distillation mechanisms, indicating that air mass advection could also play an important role in deter-mining the δv. On a diurnal time-scale, the δv reached the minimum in the early afternoon hours in Beijing which was closely related to the atmospheric processes of boundary layer entrainment. During the peak of growing season of winter wheat, however, the δv reached the minimum in the early morning, and increased gradually through the daytime, and reached the maximum in the late afternoon, which was responsible by the interaction between boundary layer entrainment and the local atmospheric processes, such as transpiration and dew for-mation. This study has the implications for the important role of vegetation in determining the surface δv and highlights the need to conduct δv measurement on short-term (e.g. diurnal) time scales.     

An upper limit on the HCl near-surface mixing ratio over the Atlantic measured using TDLAS

A study of the gas phase mixing ratio of hydrochloric acid was made during the 1988 Polarstern expedition using tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS). The measurements were made 22 m above sea level at 28° N, 30° W. The signal-to-noise ratio was unity for <50 pptv HCl, but because of wall effects in the sampling system, only an upper limit for the HCl mixing ratio of <250 pptv can be stated.