Given how hazardous greenhouse gases (GHGs) are to our atmosphere and climate, it is perplexing to find hardly anyone talking about how those gases are measured. Even among those who do, you seldom spot anyone who mentions—amid the small fonts and tables, graphs, and charts—how data is collected in the field. Why? Because the tools we use to assess GHG levels are crude.
In some cases the measurements are straightforward: totting up the amount of carbon in fuel used by a factory and working out how much is converted into carbon dioxide when it is burned. But not all industrial sites lend themselves to such simple math, particularly those that release GHGs in a form known as "fugitive" emissions. In such cases, even the most advanced approach to measurement are considerably unsophisticated.
At the cutting edge, for example, is a solar-powered, remote-controlled dinghy designed to operate in wastewater treatment lagoons or tailings ponds. This modest vehicle is equipped with a flux chamber—an enclosure for capturing air emissions escaping from the surface and gauging their levels with an on-board gas analyzer. These emissions include volatile organic compounds, which have a vapor pressure high enough for them to rise from…
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