U.S. flag An official website of the United States government.
Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

i

The use of LIDAR to characterize aircraft exhaust plumes

File Language:
English


Details

  • Creators:
  • Corporate Creators:
  • Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Publication/ Report Number:
  • Resource Type:
  • Geographical Coverage:
  • NTL Classification:
    AGR-IMPACTS-Environment ; NTL-AVIATION-Aviation Energy and Environment ; NTL-ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT-Environment Impacts ; NTL-ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT-Aviation Energy and Environment ; NTL-ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT-Air Quality
  • Abstract:
    Aircraft emissions are a growing concern for the FAA, airports, and the community. U.S.

    and international air quality models were previously unable to accurately predict initial

    plume dispersion and the resulting pollutant concentrations because the characteristics of

    the initial plume behavior were virtually unknown. These data are needed as input to

    dispersion models, such as the FAA’s Emissions and Dispersion Modeling System

    (EDMS), for use in complying with air quality requirements. Since very little research

    had been done in this area, input values previously used were primarily based on the best

    available information and good engineering judgment. The Volpe National

    Transportation Systems Center, FAA’s Office of Environment and Energy (AEE), the

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Los Angeles

    International Airport (LAX), teamed up to conduct a study of aerosol plume behavior

    from jet exhaust using LIght Detection And Ranging or LIDAR. LIDAR has been used

    for previous measurements to study wing-tip vortices and some pollutant evaluations near

    airports, and was concluded to be appropriate for this application. In support of AEE, the

    John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center initiated action to conduct the

    research. Volpe enlisted the assistance of the NOAA, based on their large amount of

    experience with LIDAR. NOAA has several LIDAR units and the flexibility to reengineer

    the units and associated software on a project-by-project basis making them the

    perfect fit for this team. Setup and measurements occurred from May 14 through 24,

    2001. The results of the measurements have exceeded expectations allowing

    quantification of aircraft plume rise and initial dispersion parameters (standard

    deviations) at this major urban airport. This paper will summarize the methodology,

    results and conclusion of this project.

  • Format:
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha256:67f3b6a3788b031a111f9cc9396f0ec7c5251b4b137ab5ac7186770fce97a275
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 1.38 MB ]
File Language:
English
ON THIS PAGE

ROSA P serves as an archival repository of USDOT-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other information authored or co-authored by USDOT or funded partners. As a repository, ROSA P retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.