ARL Weekly News – May 20, 2022
| Recent Events |
ARL collaborates with UMD and Takoma Park Public Works to study methane emissions from yard waste
In collaboration with Dr. Ning Zeng at the University of Maryland, Phil Stratton and Xinrong Ren visited the Takoma Park Public Works yard waste mulching and composting facility to study methane and carbon dioxide emissions from yard waste and to assist Dr. Zeng in evaluating his low-cost sensor suite. Phil and Xinrong utilized a suite of research grade instrumentation deployed on a mobile observing system. The mobile suite was developed with the help of Paul Kelly and Winston Luke, and includes observations of methane, ethane, carbon dioxide, 13C isotope of methane/carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen monoxide, black carbon, temperature, pressure, three-dimensional wind speed/direction, in addition to vehicle position and velocity. During the visit they discussed different methods of carbon storage and ways to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from the decomposition of organic matter. Further measurements of methane and CO2 emissions from yard waste compost in different seasons and different stages of composting have been planned. In addition to collaborations with other researchers, the mobile suite will be used for the estimation of ground level pollutant emission rates from known sources while surveying for unknown sources in the Baltimore-Washington area.
ARL’s mobile observing system measures GHG emissions from various sources in the urban environment.
Methane emissions measured from a compost pile at the Takoma Park, MD Public Works facility.
Sites across DC, from monuments to industrial facilities are measured. The US Capitol Building is shown here.
Industrial and natural gas facilities are measured.
Multiple measurements are taken by ARL’s mobile observing system as the SUV travels throughout the DC Metro area.
Instrumentation for ARL’s mobile observing system is deployed on an SUV
Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting
Nebila Lichieb presented a poster entitled “Atmospheric nitrogen measurements and interactions with coastal ecosystems” at the Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting. The poster summarizes the results of the field study performed at the St. Jones Reserve in Delaware, in order to measure the atmospheric ammonia concentrations and fluxes over a coastal salt marsh ecosystem. Along with Dr. Kari St Laurent, Dr. Lichieb also co-moderated the session titled “Atmospheric Deposition of Nitrogen: Changes, Challenges and Aquatic Ecosystems”. Dr. Diane Lauritsen was the organizer of this session and Dr. LaToya Myles was the co-organizer.