High Precision Monitoring Instrumentation for Background Methane

Our Phase I effort was successful. We upgraded our baseline methane analyzer to meet or surpass the levels of performance posed by DOC solicitation subtopic 8.1.1R: sensitivity of 10 ppb (dry mole fraction), low maintenance for extended periods at remote field sites, less than one liter (NTP) of reference gas per day, and negligible response to platform motion. The analyzer is a novel application of the NonDispersive Infrared technique. It utilizes the narrow (4cm-1) Q-Branch of methane at 3.315mm. The absorbing cell is single pass, compact (15cm3, 20 cm long) and has no internal optics. For Phase II, we are proposing to: 1) upgrade the methane analyzer and associated detection system to become a commercial product of the proposing company, and 2) build two full methane detection systems, one to be deployed to a land-based site of NOAA¿s choice after the appropriate amount of laboratory development, the other to serve as a demonstration project to be deployed on a buoy for monitoring the background of atmospheric methane at sea.