Estimation of ship emission rates at a major shipping lane by long-path DOAS measurements

Ships are an important source of SO2 and NOx, which are key parameters of air quality. Monitoring of ship emissions is usually carried out using in situ instruments on land, which depend on favourable wind conditions to transport the emitted substances to the measurement site. Remote sensing techniques such as long-path differential optical absorption spectroscopy (LP-DOAS) measurements can supplement those measurements, especially in unfavourable meteorological conditions. In this study 1 year of LP-DOAS measurements made across the river Elbe close to Hamburg (Germany) have been evaluated. Peaks (i.e. elevated concentrations) in the NO2 and SO2 time series were assigned to passing ships, and a method to derive emission rates of SO2, NO2 and NOx from those measurements using a Gaussian plume model is presented. A total of 7402 individual ship passages have been monitored, and their respective NOx, SO2 and NO2 emission rates have been derived. The emission rates, coupled with the knowledge of the ship type, ship size and ship speed, have been analysed. Emission rates are compared to emission factors from previous studies and show good agreement. In contrast to emission factors (in grams per kilogram fuel), the derived emission rates (in grams per second) do not need further knowledge about the fuel consumption of the ship. To our knowledge this is the first time emission rates of air pollutants from individual ships have been derived from LP-DOAS measurements.

Automated summary

Emission rates of air pollutants from individual ships were successfully derived from LP-DOAS measurements conducted on the river Elbe near Hamburg for one year, showing good agreement with previous studies.