Articles | Volume 19, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-3911-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-3911-2026
Research article
 | 
16 Jun 2026
Research article |  | 16 Jun 2026

Optimizing airborne emission rate retrievals with sub-hectometre resolution numerical modelling

Sepehr Fathi, Mark Gordon, and Jingliang Hao

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Cited articles

Alfieri, S., Amato, U., Carfora, M., Esposito, M., and Magliulo, V.: Quantifying trace gas emissions from com- posite landscapes: A mass-budget approach with aircraft measurements, Atmos. Environ., 44, 1866–1876, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2010.02.026, 2010. 
Angevine, W. M., Peischl, J., Crawford, A., Loughner, C. P., Pollack, I. B., and Thompson, C. R.: Errors in top-down estimates of emissions using a known source, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 11855–11868, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11855-2020, 2020. 
Baray, S., Darlington, A., Gordon, M., Hayden, K. L., Leithead, A., Li, S.-M., Liu, P. S. K., Mittermeier, R. L., Moussa, S. G., O'Brien, J., Staebler, R., Wolde, M., Worthy, D., and McLaren, R.: Quantification of methane sources in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of Alberta by aircraft mass balance, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 7361–7378, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-7361-2018, 2018. 
Bell, T. M., Klein, P. M., Lundquist, J. K., and Waugh, S.: Remote-sensing and radiosonde datasets collected in the San Luis Valley during the LAPSE-RATE campaign, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 1041–1051, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-1041-2021, 2021. 
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Aircraft are often used to measure emissions from industry and other sources by flying downwind of the source and measuring the pollutant winds and concentration. This study uses model simulation to help choose the best flight configuration and parameters for a given source type (e.g. smokestacks, mine faces, or surface emissions). The results provide uncertainty estimates based on downwind flight distances, which helps to plan aircraft-based measurements campaigns.
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