Systems and methods for estimating an emission rate of a source

A system for estimating an emission rate of at least one source, comprising:

• an anemometer for gauging wind direction and a wind speed;
• a gas sensor for measuring concentration of a gas;
• and
• a processor coupled to the wind sensor and the gas sensor, the processor configured to:
• a) receive a position and a height of the at least one source;
• b) receive a position and a height of the gas sensor at a sensing location;
• c) during a predetermined time interval:
• i) receive a background concentration of the gas not affected by the at least one source;
• ii) receive atmospheric stability information associated with the sensing location;
• vii) determine dispersion parameters based at least on the atmospheric stability information;
• iv) measure a set of parameters, including:
• a concentration of said gas using the gas sensor, and
• a wind speed and wind direction using the wind sensor;
• v) repeat step iv) N times during the interval to collect N sets of parameters;
• vi) input the N sets of parameters, the position and height of the at least one source, the position and height of the gas sensor, the background concentration of the gas not affected by the at least one source and the dispersion parameters into a function relating the gas concentration to the wind direction;
• and
• vii) invert the function relating the gas concentration to the wind direction to obtain each source emission rate.