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Environment

Greenhouse Gas Measurements

Projects/Programs

Displaying 1 - 25 of 30
Aperture measurement with AMM

Aperture area measurements

Ongoing
Aperture area measurements are performed at NIST’s aperture area measurement facility, which combines a precise interferometric motion stage with high-resolution optical microscopy. This non-contact method is especially well suited for the measurement of defining apertures with knife edges that are
3D plot

Applied spectroradiometry and imaging metrology

Ongoing
Stray light correction Array instruments are subject to measurement errors arising from detector's blooming, smearing, nonlinearity, and instrument's stray light. These errors (except the stray-light error) can either be avoided or corrected in many cases. However, the stray light, due to scattered
Photograph of gas cylinders

Audit of EPA Protocol Gas Suppliers

Ongoing
Protocol gas standards are employed in measurements made for compliance purposes; one of the major uses is for measurements of regulated gaseous species from stationary source emitters, i.e., stack gases. Many of these stationary sources are regulated through the Cap and Trade program; therefore

Biogenic Modeling and Measurements

Ongoing
For purposes of top-down GHG emissions monitoring, a high-resolution biospheric model is needed that can resolve fine-scale variability in the atmosphere due to biospheric fluxes. Therefore, we currently focus on models that resolve the diurnal cycle and can be run at high spatial resolutions (e.g
Long_Feature_Image

Bringing the SI to Global Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Measurement

Ongoing
This multifaceted program leverages expertise in three complementary technical focus areas- all of which involve SI-traceable measurements of relevant atmospheric species such as carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor and oxygen. The efforts include gravimetrically based preparation of primary

Calibration of Space Weather Observational Instruments at NIST

Ongoing
Space-weather events are naturally occurring phenomena caused by activity on the Sun that affect us here on Earth. Solar storms can impact technology we rely on daily, like e.g. the Global Positioning System (GPS), communication satellites, and electric power grids. Various phenomena that originate
Image showing a variety of gas tanks with carbon dioxide

Carbon Dioxide Measurements and Reference Materials

Ongoing
CO 2 Reference Materials The Gas Sensing Metrology Group at NIST has a long history of providing reference materials to industry, monitoring communities, and academia. The program began in the 1970’s by developing an initial suite of CO2 primary standard mixtures (PSMs) to support the US Department
Wordcloud consisting of words CCQM metrology group task etc.

CCQM Activities in the Gas Analysis Working Group

Ongoing
The results from these Key comparisons will be used to benchmark the appropriate Calibration and Measurement Claims (CMCs) of the participating NMIs. CMCs are basically the declared capabilities that an NMI offers to customers, and they are included in a searchable database at the BIPM web site
Illustration of satellite sensing of sunlight reflected by buildings, roads, water and trees to assess radiative warming of the earth.

Climate Science

Ongoing
This program encompasses multifaceted efforts to advance the metrology of climate science. Projects include: development of ultra-high accuracy optical standards and technologies to determine greenhouse gases (GHGs) concentrations, atmospheric lifetimes, and aerosol radiative forcing development of
Field Parameter Metrology 2

Electromagnetic Field Strength Metrology

Ongoing
NIST calibrates electrically-small field probes from 10 megahertz – 40 gigahertz. These measurements are done in facilities that are periodically compared against other National Metrology Institutes in conjunction with the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM). This assures international

Fiber Sources and Applications Background Information

Ongoing
NIST has been a world leader in lasers since the technology's development in the early 1960s, a tradition continued when NIST scientist John L. Hall shared the 2005 Nobel Prize in physics for his part in the invention of the optical frequency comb. The output of a comb is a brief broadband pulse
dual-comb spectroscopy illustration

Frequency-comb-based Spectroscopy (Dual-Comb Spectroscopy)

Ongoing
Fully stabilized frequency combs provide a broadband spectral output that is comprised of a series of narrow spectral lines or “teeth”. “Dual comb spectroscopy” provides one method to harness these properties for broadband spectroscopy. It allows the user to read-out the spectrum of a gas mixture on

Fundamental Guided Wave Metrology

Ongoing
The science of microwave measurements is expanding in many different directions. There is a constant push to use higher frequencies. Signals are becoming much more complex and include modulation effects, multiport/differential signals, complex waveforms, and other unusual signal schemes. On-wafer
Photograph of SRM SRM 1694a sulfur dioxide in nitrogen showing a labeled gas cylinder.

Gas Concentration Standards Supporting Atmospheric Monitoring

Ongoing
NIST develops suites of SI-traceable, amount-of-substance, primary gas standard mixtures (PSMs) for key trace and greenhouse gas species to provide traceability to the International System of Units for a range of user communities. Standard Reference Materials (SRMs), certified to the PSMs, are
Round circles like red and green grapes on the left have one with the globe. Grapes has the A squared.

GReenhouse Gas And Air Pollutants Emissions System (GRA2PES)

Ongoing
The GReenhouse gas And Air Pollutants Emissions System (GRA2PES) uses publicly accessible GHG emissions activity data across multiple economic sectors, including energy production, manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, and land use, among others. The initiative involves the development of
Partial timeline showing the evolution of open-path dual-comb spectroscopy at NIST

Greenhouse Gas and Atmospheric Trace Gas Measurements

Ongoing
Dealing with climate change will require continued reductions in emissions, which in turn will require higher accuracies and precisions for monitoring, reporting and verification. Better monitoring will accelerate local emission reductions as well as being critical to verifying international
Illustration with a stylized representation of an atom with electron orbits superimposed on a colorful periodic table of the elements.

High-Precision Isotopic Reference Materials

Ongoing
A new generation of multi-collector IRMS, utilizing both inductively coupled plasma and thermal ionization sample sources, is now capable of measuring isotope ratios with extremely high precision – a few parts in 10 6. This new measurement capability has caused a minor revolution in the use of
HIP engines

Hyperspectral Image Projector (HIP)

Ongoing
Remote sensing instruments and medical imagers are designed to take images composed of many spectral bands, not just the minimum three components used by common digital cameras (i.e., red, green, and blue). These images are referred to as hyperspectral because each pixel contains information for
A map of Indianapolis urban area shaded in gray with red numbered triangles

The Indianapolis (INFLUX) Urban Test Bed

Ongoing
Observation Network Various types of atmospheric GHG observations have been deployed as part of the INFLUX project: Tower-based in-situ, continuous measurements of CO 2, CH 4, and CO Flask sampling of 14CO 2 and other trace gases (currently at two towers) Periodic aircraft sampling of greenhouse
Photo of the exterior upper portion of Caltech Hall showing weather stations on the corners of the roof.

The Los Angeles Megacity Carbon Project

Ongoing
Observation Network Tower and rooftop-based in-situ measurements of carbon dioxide (CO 2) and methane (CH 4) are the backbone of the LA Megacity test bed. This surface-based component of the LA observing system includes a network of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) monitoring stations that is intended to
A prototype low-cost GHG sensor box opened with the circuits showing and Tyler Boyle crouched next to it on a deck at NIST

Low-Cost Sensor Platform

Ongoing
This platform uses commercially available sensors and microcontrollers, making them a fraction of the cost of traditional GHG measurement systems. Though these sensors are less accurate than traditional measurement systems, NIST hopes to reduce sensor uncertainty to the 1 ppm level with frequent
Conceptual Art of Gas Molecules Adsorbed in a Zeolite Adsorbent

NIST Data Resources for Adsorption

Ongoing
NIST/ARPA-e Database of Novel and Emerging Adsorbent Materials A centralized resource for the scientific community to find and compare single- and multi-component adsorption isotherms reported in the literature. The database sorts data according to adsorbent material, adsorbate species