Nitrous oxide is an important trace atmospheric species which plays a key role in the atmospheric greenhouse problem as well as the destruction of stratospheric ozone. Its concentration in the atmosphere is rising due to anthropogenic sources related to agricultural productivity and the burning of coal and heavy fuel oil. This grant is to evaluate and develop a new, reliable, cost effective, rugged and nonintrusive method of measuring nitrous oxide in either the free atmosphere or in combustion exhaust gas streams. The proposed measurement technique is based on a dual gaseous Xenon. This measurement method could also be integrated with eddy correlation of flux measurement techniques to yield both concentration and vertical flux measurements of nitrous oxide from airborne or ground based platforms. If pursued through prototype development (Phase II), the proposed research would result in a new instrumental capability to perform nitrous oxide concentration and flux measurements from a wide variety of airborne and ground based platforms. Commercial instrumentation for both research and regulatory monitoring purposes would be less expensive, more accurate, and more reliable than any current method. Instrumentation to measure nitrous oxide concentration in exhausts from fossil fuel combustors would also be developed.
