Abstract
Abstract. This research demonstrates the use of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to characterize the gaseous (CO2) and particle (10–500 nm) emissions of a ship at sea. The field study was part of the research voyage “The Great Barrier Reef as a significant source of climatically relevant aerosol particles” on board the RV Investigator around the Australian Great Barrier Reef. Measurements of the RV Investigator exhaust plume were carried out while the ship was operating at sea, at a steady engine load of 30 %. The UAV system was flown autonomously using several different programmed paths. These incorporated different altitudes and distances behind the ship in order to investigate the optimal position to capture the ship plume. Five flights were performed, providing a total of 27 horizontal transects perpendicular to the ship exhaust plume. Results show that the most appropriate altitude and distance to effectively capture the plume was 25 m a.s.l. and 20 m downwind. Particle number emission factors (EFPNs) were calculated in terms of number of particles emitted (no.) per weight of fuel consumed (kgfuel). Fuel consumption was calculated using the simultaneous measurements of plume CO2 concentration. The calculated EFPN was 7.6±1.4×1015no. kgfuel-1 which is in line with those reported in the literature for ship emissions ranging from 0.2 to 6.2×1016 no. kgfuel-1. This UAV system successfully assessed ship emissions to derive EFPN under real world conditions. This is significant as it provides a novel, relatively inexpensive and accessible way to assess ship EFPN at sea.
Highlights
Shipping is the most significant contributor to international freight, with almost 80 % of the worldwide merchandise trade by volume transported by ships in 2015 (UNCTAD, 2015)
Measurements of particle number (PN) and CO2 concentration emitted by the RV Investigator were taken using a PN and CO2 monitor mounted on a customized DJI EVO S800 hexacopter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) (DJI, 2014)
The UAV system used in this study successfully measured PN and CO2 concentrations from the exhaust plume of the RV Investigator whilst operating at sea
Summary
Shipping is the most significant contributor to international freight, with almost 80 % of the worldwide merchandise trade by volume transported by ships in 2015 (UNCTAD, 2015) Emissions from this transportation mode are a significant contributor to air pollution, both locally and globally. In 2007, pollution from ship exhaust was found to be responsible for approximately 60 000 cardiopulmonary and lung cancer deaths worldwide annually (Corbett et al, 2007). Such emissions are a strong climate forcing agent, contributing to global warming through the absorbance of solar and terrestrial radiation (Hallquist et al, 2013; Lack et al, 2011; Winnes et al, 2016)
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