Washington D.C. Flux Study (DCFlux)

HALO instrument on the HCH rooftop
HALO instrument installed on the Herbert C. Hoover building rooftop, April 2021. Photo: Scott Sandberg, NOAA

Where: Washington, D.C.

When: April 2021 - 2025

The Northeast Corridor Urban Test Bed is National Institutes for Standards and Technology (NIST) led effort to quantify greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes in the US Northeast. Its current focus is the urban areas of Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland. The study uses distributed tower measurements and periodic aircraft sampling of GHG and dynamics to accomplish goals.

CSL is deploying a scanning Doppler lidar instrument to downtown Washington D.C. to measure mean wind profile in the lower part of the atmosphere, and turbulence information, including the mixing height. These measurements will be used to evaluate and improve the atmospheric transport models that are coupled with observations of GHG concentrations to estimate urban GHG emissions.