Graduate Student

This research will involve both NIST and the University of Maryland’s Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences(AOSC). Surface and field observations will be made in and around a landfill in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. region. Airborne measurements will be made using AOSC’s small, instrumented research aircraft. Surface observations will involve the use of AOSC’s instrumented van. The student must be able to make field measurements in vehicles (possess a valid driver’s license) and small aircraft and will collect data under the direction of the AOSC PI and NIST sponsor. GHG and air pollutant concentration and meteorological (two-dimensional wind) measurements will be made for surface routes and airborne transects. The student will calibrate,
maintain, and operate instruments to measure meteorological variables and CH4, C2H6, 13CH4, CO2, CO, BC, O3, NOx, and other pollutants both on the ground and from aircraft. Emissions analyses will employ the mass balance technique to characterize landfill and other emission fluxes. The student will prepare verified data fields for use by NIST staff and its collaborator(s) using atmospheric inversion models. Results can help quantify both air quality and greenhouse gas emissions from broad urban areas as well as point sources such as landfills and will be used to determine emission trends. The use of ethane, methane, and their isotopes is useful in discerning the relative contribution of fossil and biogenic methane sources.