The development and application of novel field measurement technology for flares under Theme 5 will serve as a key link between the more detailed lab-based experiments undertaken in Themes 1-4 and conditions in the field. Until recently, there were no viable approaches for directly measuring BC emission rates from open flares in situ. This has changed with the emergence of a new measurement technology known as sky-LOSA (Line-Of-Sight Attenuation using sky-light), which enables remote optical measurement of soot concentration and emission rates in flare plumes.
With co-support of the World Bank Global Gas Flaring Reduction (GGFR) partnership, sky-LOSA has now be successfully deployed in two field trials: initially as a first generation proof-of-concept measurement on a large sooting flare in Uzbekistan, and more recently as a 2nd generation technology demonstration on two smaller, lightly sooting flares near Poza Rica, Mexico. Sky-LOSA is being internationally recognized as an emerging and disruptive technology with the critically needed ability to enable global efforts to quantify and demonstrably mitigate atmospheric emissions of black carbon.