Method and system for screening an area of the atmosphere for sources of emissions

A method for remotely screening a selected area with an atmosphere for the presence of emissions into the atmosphere comprising:

• (a) moving a mobile platform carrying an atmospheric component sensor in a pattern over and in the vicinity of the selected area;
• (b) measuring the concentration of a component of the atmosphere at one or more points along the pattern with the atmospheric component sensor to obtain concentration data;
• (c) obtaining supplementary data;
• and
• (d) using an inverse dispersion technique, that utilizes the concentration data with the supplementary data to detect and locate one or more sources of emissions, and to determine the one or more sources' mass release rate(s) or surface flux(es),
• which inverse dispersion technique comprises:
• (e) selecting a component arising from the one or more source locations;
• (f) selecting at least one measurement location;
• (g) postulating a dispersion model that allows prediction of concentration of the component as a function of the one or more sources of emissions' position in relation to the at least one measurement location and as a function of the one or more sources' mass release rate(s) or surface flux(es);
• (h) postulating one or more source flux models comprising source parameters comprising position(s) of assumed source(s) and assumed mass release rate(s) or surface flux(es);
• (i) calculating with the dispersion model for each postulated source flux model the predicted concentration that would arise at each measurement location(s) to obtain synthetic concentration data for each postulated source flux model;
• (j) comparing the synthetic concentration data with the concentration data;
• and
• (k) selecting the source flux model whose synthetic concentration data most adequately matches the concentration data.