Measurements of Atmospheric Trace Gases by Emission and Absorption Spectroscopy with FTIR

Abstract

AbstractTo interpret infrared spectra of atmospheric measurements, a multi‐component air pollution software (MAPS) was developed for retrieval of gas concentrations from radiation emission as well as absorption measurements. The analysis of gas releases and ambient air is performed by a mobile remote sensing system with the double‐pendulum interferometer K300 of the company Kayser‐Threde which has a spectral range from 700 to 7800 cm−1 and a spectral resolution of 0.08 cm−1 maximum. These are passive radiation measurements to retrieve temperature and gas concentrations as CO, CO2, N2O, NO, SO2, HCl, and H2O concentrations in smoke stack effluents of thermal power plants and municipal incinerators, CO2, H2O, and CH4 from flares, and CO, CO2, NO and H2O in exhausts of aircraft engines. Open‐path radiation measurements are used to determine trace gases in ambient air and near diffusive sources as NH3 from stocking‐farming and cattle slurry spreaded grasslands, greenhouse gases, NOx, and HCHO from road traffic, CH4 from garbage deposits and open‐cast lignite mining, and to estimate VOC concentrations in a waste combustion plant. Solar absorption measurements at the IFU station on the summit of Zugspitze were outlined to determine atmospheric column densities of trace gases as HNO3.