Field Testing Two Flux Footprint Models

Abstract. A field study was undertaken to investigate the accuracy of two micrometeorological flux footprint models when calculating the gas emission rate from a 10 × 10 m synthetic surface area source, based on the vertical flux of gas measured 15 to 50 m downwind of the source. Calculations were made with an easy-to-use tool based on the Kormann-Meixner analytical model and with a more sophisticated Lagrangian stochastic dispersion model. A total of 323 10 minute observation periods were measured over 9 days. On average, each of the two models calculated the emission rate to within 10 % of the actual release rate. No clear differences were observed between the two models in terms of overall accuracy.