Measurements of Air Quality Using Lidar System

Air pollution is a widely recognized hazard to human health. In industrial cities the emission of toxic gases and particulate matter create hazardous public health situations. Is the case of the industrial complex of Cubatao, state of Sao Paulo that is one of the largest petrochemical and industrial in Brazil that has been subject of severe damage caused by massive emissions of pollutants, as a result of the progressive industrialization in the area. Therefore it is necessary to monitory the area to be able to control and to prevent ambient problems. In a partnership with the University of Sao Paulo (USP) the Brazilian oil company PETROBRAS has started off an Environmental Research Center - CEPEMA- located in the industrial site, in which the development of fieldwork will be carried out. The current joint R&D project focus on the development of real time acquisition system, together with automated multicomponent chemical analysis. Additionally fugitive emissions from oil processing and storage sites will be measured, together with the main greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4) and aerosols. Our first effort is to assess the potential chemical species coming out of an oil refinery site and to use Raman technique LIDAR for detecting and quantifying the particular gas. Raman lidar techniques have been demonstrated which provide most valuable descriptions of the evolution of air pollution events. The vibrational and rotational Raman LIDAR signals provide simultaneous profiles of meteorological data, ozone and measurements of airborne particulate matter.