Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Agricultural Air Quality, Washington, DC
Publication Date
6-8-2006
Abstract
Agricultural operations produce a variety of particulates and gases that influence air quality. Agriculture, through wind erosion, tillage and harvest operations, burning, diesel-powered machinery and animal production operations, is a source of particulate matter that can enter human lungs and cause pulmonary problems. These emissions can negatively impact human health, property values, and the environment. The presence of buildings and other structures often make whole facility measurement capability a requirement for understanding the source strength and characteristics. The ability to use standoff methods to determine the movement and concentrations of emissions on a whole facility basis opens new capabilities for model development and verification. We report on the design, construction and operation of a new multiwavelength lidar developed with the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture and its program on particle emissions from animal production facilities. The lidar incorporates a laser emitting simultaneous, pulsed NdYAG laser radiation at 355, 532 and 1064 nm at a pulse rate of 10 kHz. Lidar backscatter and extinction data are modeled to extract the aerosol information. All-reflective optics combined with dichroic and interferometric filters permit all the wavelength channels to be measured simultaneously, day or night, using photon counting by PMTs, an APD, and high speed data acquisition. The lidar is housed in a transportable trailer for all-weather operation at any accessible site. The laser beams are directed in both azimuth and elevation to targets of interest. We describe application of the lidar in a multidisciplinary atmospheric study at a swine production farm in Iowa. Aerosol plumes emitted from the facility were prominent phenomena, and their variations with temperature, turbulence, stability and feed cycle were studied, using arrays of particle samplers and turbulence detectors. Other lidar measurements focused on air motion as seen by long duration scans of the farm region. Successful operation of this lidar confirms the value of multiwavelength, eyesafe lidars for agricultural aerosol measurements.
Recommended Citation
Wilkerson, T. D.; Bingham, G. E.; Zavyalov, V. V.; Swasey, J.; Hancock, J. J.; Crowther, B. G.; Cornelsen, S. S.; Marchant, C.; Cuttis, J. N.; Huish, D. C.; Earl, C. L.; Andersen, J. M.; and Cox, M. L., "AGLITE: A Multiwavelength Lidar for Aerosols" (2006). Space Dynamics Laboratory Publications. Paper 143.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/sdl_pubs/143