Deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle during surface CO2 release experiments at the Ginninderra greenhouse gas controlled release facility  

Authors / CoAuthors

Berko, H. | Feitz, A.J.

Abstract

Deployment of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle during surface CO2 release experiments at the Ginninderra greenhouse gas controlled release facility H. Berko (CO2CRC, Geoscience Australia), F. Poppa (The Australian National University), U. Zimmer (The Australian National University) and A. Feitz (CO2CRC, Geoscience Australia) Lagrangian stochastic (LS) forward modelling of CO2 plumes from above-surface release experiments conducted at the GA-CO2CRC Ginninderra controlled release facility demonstrated that small surface leaks are likely to disperse rapidly and unlikely to be detected at heights greater 4 m; this was verified using a rotorcraft to map out the plume. The CO2 sensing rotorcraft unmanned aerial vehicle (RUAV) developed at the Australian National University, Canberra, is equipped with a CO2 sensor, a GPS, lidar and a communication module. It was developed to detect and locate CO2 gas leaks; and estimate CO2 concentration at the emission source. The choice of a rotor-craft UAV allows slower flight speeds compared to speeds of a fixed-wing UAV; and the electric powered motor enables flight times of 12 min. In experiments conducted at the Ginninderra controlled release facility, gaseous CO2 (100 kg per day) was released from a small diffuse source located in the middle of the paddock, and the RUAV was flown repeatedly over the CO2 source at a few meters height. Meteorological parameters measured continuously at the site at the time of the flight were input in the LS model. Mapped out horizontal and vertical CO2 concentrations established the need to be close to the ground in order to detect CO2 leakage using aerial techniques. Using the rotorcraft as a mobile sensor could be an expedient mechanism to detect plumes over large areas, and would be important for early detection of CO2 leaks arising from CCS activities.

Product Type

nonGeographicDataset

eCat Id

77392

Contact for the resource

Keywords

• External PublicationAbstract

( Theme )

• atmosphere

( Theme )

• carbon dioxide

( Theme )

• greenhouse gas emissions

( Theme )

• model

Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC)

• Atmospheric Sciences

• Published_Internal

Publication Date

2013-01-01T00:00:00

Creation Date

Security Constraints

Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem    

Classification - unclassified

Legal Constraints

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Licence    

Access - license

Use - license

Status

Purpose

Maintenance Information

asNeeded

Topic Category

climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere

Series Information

Lineage

None

Parent Information

Extents

[-35.5, -35.0, 149.0, 149.5]

Reference System

Spatial Resolution

Service Information

Associations

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Source Information

CO2CRC-GA Greenhouse Gas Controlled Release Facility collaborative project. The Australian National University CO2 sensing rotorcraft unmanned aerial vehicle (RUAV)