Greenhouse Gas Laser Imaging Tomography Experiment (GreenLITE)

Abstract

Exelis has recently developed a novel laser-based instrument to aid in the autonomous real-time monitoring and mapping of CO2 concentration over a two-dimensional area. The Greenhouse gas Laser Imaging Tomography Experiment (GreenLITE) instrument uses two transceivers and a series of retroreflectors to continuously measure the differential transmission over a number of overlapping lines of sight or "chords", forming a plane. By inverting the differential transmission measurements along with locally measured temperature (T), pressure (P) and relative humidity (RH) the average concentration of CO2 along each chord can be determined and, based on the overlap between chords, a 2D map of CO2 concentration over the measurement plane can be estimated. The GreenLITE system was deployed to the Zero Emissions Research and Technology (ZERT) center in Bozeman, Montana, in Aug-Sept 2014, where more than 200 hours of data were collected over a wide range of environmental conditions, while utilizing a controlled release of CO2 into a segmented underground pipe [1]. The system demonstrated the ability to identify persistent CO2 sources at the test facility and showed strong correlation with an independent measurement using a LI-COR based system. Here we describe the measurement approach, instrument design, and results from the deployment to the ZERT site.