Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/R000921/1
London GHG
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor R Jones, University of Cambridge, Chemistry
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor NRP Harris, Cranfield University, School of Water, Energy and Environment
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor M Rigby, University of Bristol, Chemistry
- Grant held at:
- University of Cambridge, Chemistry
- Science Area:
- Atmospheric
- Overall Classification:
- Panel B
- ENRIs:
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- Boundary Layer Meteorology
- Land - Atmosphere Interactions
- Climate & Climate Change
- Atmospheric carbon cycle
- Atmospheric carbon dioxide
- Fossil fuels
- Greenhouse gases
- Pollution
- Abstract:
- With the adoption of the Paris climate agreement in December 2015, 197 countries have agreed to act to limit the growth in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and. As part of this agreement, these countries will provide enhanced transparency in their greenhouse gas emission reporting. An important element of this will be to ensure that there is independent confirmation that signatories are meeting their obligations. It is widely recognised therefore that monitoring GHGs in the atmosphere is needed to underpin verification methods which can provide critical confirmatory evidence of compliance. Cities, where a majority of human-caused greenhouse gases originate, are ideal testing grounds for different emissions verification methods. For example, multi-million dollar "megacities" projects have recently been developed and deployed in cities such as Los Angeles and Indianapolis, in these cases with emissions being verified using combinations of surface, aircraft-based and space-based instrumentation. Those projects are ground-breaking and have been successful, particularly in engaging local communities and policy makers in the global climate debate. However, the expense and complexity of these multi-platform projects severely limit the scope for rolling out similar efforts across the necessary hundreds of major cities, particularly in the developing world. Furthermore, it is important to rigorously quantify (as well as reduce) the uncertainties in emissions if this information is to be transparent and policy-relevant. Therefore, in this proposal we set out the following objectives: 1: Adapt and deploy new low cost sensor network technologies to measure CO2, CO and CH4 at precisions and accuracies appropriate for accurate urban-scale emissions evaluation. 2: Develop a high-resolution trace gas "inverse" method for estimating emissions using atmospheric measurements, which quantifies uncertainties more exhaustively than previous studies. 3: Undertake a case study for the first high-resolution emissions evaluation of CO2, and CH4 in and around London using a network of 20 new-generation, autonomous sensor packages. Recent developments in low cost optical sensors for carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) provide the basis for trace level sensor networks for these important greenhouse gases. This proposal is to couple these sensors with recent developments in low cost sensor network calibration and assimilation methodologies to create a GHG emission monitoring network system across London. The observations will be interpreted using state of the art inversion methodologies applied to a combined urban dispersion and atmospheric transport models. We will combine this sensor network with observations from the UK DECC/BEIS network, the Royal Holloway University of London monitoring site, and satellite instruments to produce a integrated comprehensive high-resolution picture of London's GHG emissions. This project brings together world-leading teams in sensor network technologies and emissions estimation techniques, along with a team of actively engaged stakeholders. The main deliverables are: - The creation and validation of a low cost GHG sensor network emissions methodology - The optimisation and deployment of a dense sensor network for GHG monitoring and source attribution across London. - CO2 and CH4 emissions estimates for Greater London for a 12 month period. London is the main focus of this proposal, however, the overarching aim is to develop and validate a methodology that would have wider applicability, both to other geographic locations and magacities and the extension to other GHGs (e.g. N2O) when suitable sensors become available. In doing so we would provide a tool both to inform GHG mitigation policy and, in the longer term, to provide improved evaluation of expected GHG reductions on the regional scales and below.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/R000921/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Standard Grant FEC
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Standard Grant
This grant award has a total value of £649,082
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DA - Estate Costs | DI - Staff | DI - T&S | DA - Other Directly Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £208,527 | £161,356 | £44,623 | £54,262 | £145,210 | £12,602 | £22,501 |
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