Mapping Refrigerant Gases in the New York City Skyline

Masoud Ghandehari, Milad Aghamohamadnia, Gregory Dobler, Andreas Karpf, Kerry Buckland, Jun Qian, Steven Koonin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Cities are now home to more than 50% of the world's population and emit large quantities of pollutants from sources such as fossil fuel combustion and the leakage of refrigerants. We demonstrate the utility of persistent synoptic longwave hyperspectral imaging to study the ongoing leakage of refrigerant gases in New York City, compounds that either deplete the stratosphere ozone or have significant global warming potential. In contrast to current monitoring programs that are based on country-level reporting or aggregate measures of emissions, we present the identification of gaseous plumes with high spatial and temporal granularity in real-Time over the skyline of Manhattan. The reported data highlights the emission of chemicals scheduled for phase-out. Our goal is to contribute to better understanding of the composition, sources, concentration, prevalence and patterns of emissions for the purposes of both research and policy.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number2735
JournalScientific reports
Volume7
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2017

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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