Determining Emission Factors from Marine Vessels Employing Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) and Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy (TDLAS)

High SO2 concentrations are harmful to human health and impact climate by affecting cloud formation. Ship contrails are the major source of SO2 in the open-ocean and impact coastal region air quality. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulates SO2 emissions by requiring ships to use fuel with varying degrees of sulfur depending distance from land. Due to lack of techniques for measuring emissions, regulations are often violated, leading to higher pollution levels. In this thesis, a method was developed to measure SO2 emission factors and the sulfur content of fuels for individual marine vessels and trucks passing the measurement site with simultaneous remote measurements of SO2 and CO2 using active-DOAS and TDLAS. A demonstration of the feasibility of the project was carried out by measuring sulfur dioxide (SO2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) in real ship plumes along with ship schedule information at a field site near the Welland Canal, Ontario.