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Measurement Tools, Standards, and Reference Data
The Greenhouse Gas Measurements Program develops greenhouse gas standards and measurement tools that are used to:
- support research on analytical methods and detection measurements
- develop greenhouse gas concentration standards and spectroscopic reference data for gas monitoring
- publish measurement guidelines and calibration procedures
- develop innovative test methods that are SI traceable
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Reference Data for GHG Sensing – (J. Hodges, Materials Measurement Lab) Goal: to enable SI-traceable, absolute, laser-spectroscopic-based amount-of-substance measurements of greenhouse gases and atmospheric pollutants. |
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Sensor Development: Metrology Tools for Climate Science – (D. Long, MML) Goal: to develop ultra-sensitive, SI-traceable laser measurement techniques for measuring the amount-of-substance of greenhouse gases. |
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Standard Reference Materials and Gas Metrology – (G. Rhoderick, MML) Goal: to develop suites of SI-traceable, amount-of-substance, primary gas standard mixtures for the key greenhouse gas species that are very accurate with low uncertainties. |
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Seawater Chemistry and Defining pH – (J. Waters, MML) Goal: to establish rigorous traceability for measurements of seawater pH, extending from pH reference standards in artificial seawater certified using primary techniques to spectrophotometric pH measurements of natural seawaters using high-purity sulfonephthalein dyes characterized using quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. |
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Microwave Remote Sensing and Standards for Weather Forecasting and Climate Science – (D. Walker, Physical Measurement Lab) Goal: to develop and deploy SI-traceable brightness-temperature standards and metrology to support US weather forecasting and improve understanding of atmospheric dynamics. |
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NIST CROMMA Facility: A Unified Coordinated Metrology Space for Millimeter - Wave Antenna Characterization– (J. Gordon and D. Novotny, PML) Goal: to develop new metrology techniques for antennas operating in atmospheric monitoring bands (100 GHz-500 GHz) based on robotics and coordinated spatial metrology. |
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Mid-Infrared Sources and Techniques for Greenhouse Gas Detection – (S. Diddams and N. Newbury, PML) Goal: to develop broadband mid infrared frequency comb sources and spectroscopic sensing techniques for quantitative greenhouse gas detection. |
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Greenhouse Gas Monitoring using Fiber Frequency Combs – (N. Newbury and S. Diddams, PML) Goal: to develop a novel frequency comb-based sensor for the accurate and precise measurement of greenhouse gases over kilometer-scale open air paths. This system can support future regional studies as well as provide truth data for the validation of satellite-based systems. |
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Differential Absorption LIDAR (DIAL) for Greenhouse Gas Measurements – (D. Plusquellic and S. Maxwell, PML) Goal: to develop cost-effective methods for accurately quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from natural and anthropogenic distributed sources and sinks to meet the requirements for mitigation efforts. To achieve this objective, advanced laser and detector technologies are being developed and tested for quantitative carbon dioxide and methane measurements over regions that contain multiple sources and sinks. |
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Total Integrated Absorption & Tomographic Reconstruction of Area Sources – (Z. Levine, PML) Goal: The Infrared Technology Group develops and disseminates the measurement science and standards for infrared radiation and infrared materials properties. |
Created March 9, 2015, Updated April 5, 2022