Determining a location and size of a gas source with a spectrometer gas monitor

1. A process for determining a location and size of a gas source within an area with a spectrometer gas monitor, the process comprising:

performing fence line monitoring of the area with the spectrometer gas monitor;

collecting spectroscopic data over multiple open paths around the area with the spectrometer gas monitor;

measuring atmospheric conditions along gas inflows and gas outflows of the area;

subtracting a background value of a concentration of a selected gas from the spectroscopic data;

applying a boundary constraint to the spectroscopic data;

determining an atmospheric concentration of air entering the area;

applying bootstrapping to the spectroscopic data;

applying zero minimum elimination to the spectroscopic data; and

producing inversion data from the spectroscopic data to determine the location and size of the gas source within the area.

2. The process of claim 1 , further comprising:

arranging a plurality of spectrometer gas monitors by clustering when the area is larger than 1 km 2 .

3. The process of claim 1 , further comprising:

performing orthogonal beam sampling to constrain atmospheric conditions upwind and downwind of the area.

4. The process of claim 1 , wherein the spectrometer gas monitor comprises:

a light source that provides source light that propagate in the area as a plurality of open-path beams;

a plurality of retroreflectors in optical communication with the light source and that receives the source light and reflects the source light as reflected light; and

a detector that detects the reflected light.

5. The process of claim 4 , wherein the source light comprises a source frequency comb that comprises comb teeth that comprise a first intensity, and the reflected light comprises a reflected frequency comb that comprises first comb teeth that comprise a second intensity such that a difference in intensity of the first intensity and the second intensity occurs due to absorption of source light.

6. The process of claim 5 , wherein performing fence line monitoring comprises:

encapsulating the area with a beam umbrella comprising open-path beams comprising the source light from the spectrometer gas monitor, wherein retroreflectors are disposed along a perimeter of the area.

7. The process of claim 6 , wherein the light source is disposed in the area.

8. The process of claim 6 , wherein the light source is disposed outside of the area.

9. The process of claim 6 , further comprising:

continuously measuring an atmospheric concentration of the selected gas from the gas source along the open-path beams.

10. The process of claim 9 , wherein subtracting the background value comprises:

determining a lowest concentration of the selected gas in the open path beams.

11. The process of claim 10 , wherein applying the boundary constraint comprises:

determining a concentration of the selected gas outside of the area.

12. The process of claim 11 , wherein applying bootstrapping comprises:

determining a surface-to-atmosphere flux of the selected gas.

13. The process of claim 2 , wherein clustering comprises:

determining a location of the spectrometer gas monitors.

14. The process of claim 3 , wherein performing orthogonal beam sampling comprises:

disposing a pair of retroreflectors of the spectrometer gas monitor relative to the gas source such that the gas source is interposed between the pair of retroreflectors.

15. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

performing fence line monitoring of an area comprising a gas source that comprises a selected gas;

collecting spectroscopic data of the selected gas over multiple open-paths around the area;

measuring atmospheric conditions along gas inflows and gas outflows of the area;

subtracting a background value of a concentration of the selected gas from the spectroscopic applying a boundary constraint to the spectroscopic data;

determining an atmospheric concentration of air entering the area;

applying bootstrapping to the spectroscopic data;

applying zero minimum elimination to the spectroscopic data; and

producing inversion data from the spectroscopic data to determine the location and size of the gas source within the area.

16. A system comprising:

one or more computers configured to perform operations, the operations comprising:

performing fence line monitoring of an area comprising a gas source that comprises a selected gas;

collecting spectroscopic data of the selected gas over multiple open-paths around the area;

measuring atmospheric conditions along gas inflows and gas outflows of the area;

subtracting a value of a concentration of the selected gas from the spectroscopic data;

applying a boundary constraint to the spectroscopic data;

determining an atmospheric concentration of air entering the area;

applying bootstrapping to the spectroscopic data;

applying zero minimum elimination to the spectroscopic data; and

producing inversion data from the spectroscopic data to determine the location and size of the gas source within the area.

17. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon,

which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

performing fence line monitoring of an area comprising a gas source that comprises a selected gas;

collecting spectroscopic data of the selected gas over multiple open-paths around the area;

measuring atmospheric conditions along gas inflows and gas outflows of the area;

subtracting a value of a concentration of the selected gas from the spectroscopic data;

applying a boundary constraint to the spectroscopic data;

determining an atmospheric concentration of air entering the area;

applying bootstrapping to the spectroscopic data;

applying zero minimum elimination to the spectroscopic data; and

producing inversion data from the spectroscopic data to determine the location and size of the gas source within the area.